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INDIANAPOLIS 
RECREATION SURVEY 

MARCH NINETEEN HUNDRED FOURTEEN 



GV 431 
.15 N3 
Copy 2 





PREPARED FOR 

THE INDIANAPOLIS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 

BY THE 

PLAYGROUND AND RECREATION 
ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA 



INDIANAPOLIS 

RECREATION SURVEY 

PREPARED FOR THE 
GENERAL .CIVIC IMPROVEMENTS COMMITTEE 

OF THE 
INDIANAPOLIS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 

JANUARY-MARCH— 1914 




COMPILED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF 

THE PLAYGROUND AND RECREATION 
ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA . 

FRANCIS R. NORTH, Field Secretary 



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JUL 17 1914 



TO THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS, 

Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce. 

Gentlemen : 

The movement initiated some two months ago by the General Civic 
Improvements Committee and approved by your Board, to have made a 
recreation survey of Indianapolis, under the supervision of the Playground 
and Recreation Association of America, has accomplished results w^orthy of 
your further consideration. The survey has been conducted by Francis R. 
North, Field Secretary of the national organization. His report is herew^ith 
appended. Its perusal shows that he has made an exhaustive and thoughtful 
study of our recreation facilities, indoor and outdoor, for children, ^^outh 
and adults; that commendable progress has been made, and a great deal 
more might be accomplished at a very slight expenditure; that in view of the 
city's rapid growth very much more should be undertaken for the healthful 
recreation and happiness of the people — young as well as older. The report 
should prove a powerful stimulus in the interest of an adequate and proper 
recreation development of the city. 

Respectfully submitted, 

FRANK B. WYNN, 
Chairman General Civic Improvements Committee. 



CONTENTS 

Page 

INTRODUCTION 5 

PART ONE— Recreation Needs 7 

I. Facilities for Outdoor Recreation in Neighborhoods 7 

II. Home and Neighborhood Conditions 10 

III, The Need of Organized Play and Recreation 11 

IV. Commercial Recreation 12 

V. Recreation Provided by Private Organizations 15 

PART TWO— Public Facilities 17 

I. Uses of Parks, Playgrounds, Baths— 1913 17 

II. Possible Uses of Parks and Playgrounds 19 

III. School Property — Present and Possible Uses 24 

IV. Public Libraries 29 

V. Streets , 29 

VI. Present Supervision of Recreation 29 

PART THREE— Summary of Needs 31 

PART FOUR— Administration 35 

PART FIVE— Recommendations 37 

I. Next Steps in Securing Recreation Facilities and Supervision, ... 37 

II. Future Development of an Adequate Recreation System^ 39 

APPENDIX— 41 

A. The Recreative Value of Commercial Recreations and Their 

Control 41 

B. Tables 44 

C. Maps 60 



Introduction 

In December, 1913, an invitation was extended to the Playground and 
Recreation Association of America to send a field secretary to study recrea- 
tion conditions in Indianapolis and to make a report on the same in the 
form of a recreation survey. Mr. Francis R. North spent tw^o months and 
a half in this w^ork. The survey has been done under the auspices of the 
General Civic Improvements Committee of the Chamber of Commerce, of 
which Dr. Frank B. Wynn is the chairman. 

The purposes of the report have been (a) to find out where the districts 
are that are fundamentally most in need of outdoor play and recreation 
facilities and good indoor recreation as a means of fostering home and 
neighborhood life (b) to show what facilities and what kinds of recreation 
are already provided by public authorities, by private organizations, and by 
commercial enterprises, (c) to show what facilities and what kinds of rec- 
reation are needed and where, (d) to show how facilities now owned by the 
city may be utilized for play and recreation, and what are the needed addi- 
tions, (e) to explain the needs in the way of organization and administra- 
tion of public recreation, (f) the function and possibilities of privately con- 
ducted recreation, (g) the position of commercial enterprises and the correct 
public attitude toward them, (h) The report concludes with a summary 
of definite recommendations. 

The beginnings already made in organized public playgrounds, in public 
baths, in the recreative use of parks, and in neighborhood recreations furthered 
by private enterprise are a tribute to the energj- and foresight of groups of 
citizens and officials who have realized the significance of a movement abso- 
lutely fundamental in building solid citizenship and in providing right living 
conditions. Many of the recommendations here given are based upon plans 
already conceived and initiated. 

Where changes in policy are advocated, they are put forward as construct- 
ive suggestions and not as criticisms. The rapid growth of many of our large 

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INDIANAPOLIS RECREATION SURVEY 

cities has brought similar problems that have had to be met by similar sug- 
gestions and changes. 

It would have been impossible to secure the information here given with- 
out the valuable help of many to whom grateful acknowledgement is given. 

POINT OF VIEW — Every city has its own problems, and its own con- 
ditions to meet. Between the influence of the home and that of the school, 
in the case of the children, and that of the business occupation, in the case 
of those older, lies the influence of the leisure time — a tremendously important 
factor. The educational necessity of play-life in children has been increas- 
ingly recognized. Surroundings which make good or bad play conditions, 
profitable or demoralizing uses of spare time, make or mar the task of the 
school and the home. The play-life is frequently the determining influence 
as to whether a child shall grow up into healthy, vigorous manhood or wom- 
anhood, with good ideals, and a normal outlook upon life. Likewise, good 
habits of leisure for young men and women and adults, chances for a whole- 
some outlet for abounding spirits, and for normal means of self-expression 
in profitable work and good social life, must not be denied. The alternatives 
have too often been lives lived below their best possibilities, not to mention 
actually bad social and moral conditions. 

In making the studies outlined above only actual facts have been sought. 
The congestion in the city proper means different conditions from those in 
outlying districts. The purpose has been to get correct observation and testi 
mony, and to avoid any generalization not clearly substantiated by the facts. 



PART ONE 

Recreation Needs of Indianapolis 

I. FACILITIES FOR OUTDOOR PLAY AND RECREATION IN 

NEIGHBORHOODS: 
1. Distribution of Population 

As a basis for a correct understanding of the size and nature of the leisure 
time problem of the city it is necessary to know the population and how it is 
divided as to locality. It is particularly desirable to know where population 
is congested and needed play and legitimate recreation likely to be hampered 
or made impossible because of lack of facilities, and where freer and more 
open conditions prevail. 

The estimated population in the directory of 1913 is 265,000. The school 
census of 1913 shows that children and jouth from five to twenty-one years 
of age number 55,127. In 1910 the school population represented 22.1 per 
cent, of the entire population of 233,650. Counting all the adults and the 
infants under five years, the total population is usually about five times the 
school census figures. 

The area of the entire city can be divided into the following types accord- 
ing to the number of the school population dwelling within the average tract 
of forty acres, including the streets and alleys. The table also shows the 
per cent, of school population dwelling in the various types. 

School Population Per cent, of 

in 40 acres School Population 

Type I In districts with 301 to 500 dwell 10 per cent. 

Type II In districts with 251 to 300 dwell 13 per cent. 

Type III In districts with 201 to 250 dwell 19 per cent. 

Type IV In districts with 151 to 200 dwell 13 per cent. 

Type V In districts with 101 to 151 dwell 26 per cent. 

Type VI In districts with 51 to 100 dwell 10 per cent. 

Type VII In districts with 1 to 50 dwell 9 per cent. 

A map of the printed document in the Appendix shows the location of these 
types. Eight of the school census districts showing the heaviest congestion 

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INDIANAPOLIS RECREATION SURVEY 

(Types I and II) lie south of the Union Station to the Belt Railroad and 
between Shelby Street and the White River ; two of these districts lie either side 
of Military Park, and one on either side of Indiana Avenue to the north and 
west of the capitol; one lies west of the River about School No. 52, and 
another is to the eastward of East Street, between Massachusetts Avenue and 
Washington Street — between Schools Nos. 1 and 9. 

The districts represented by Types III and IV, while they do not show 
the average youthful population as dense as in the first types, are for the most 
part in closely settled districts where the space is nearly taken up with build- 
ings and their lots. Owing to the large size of certain census districts, Types 
III to VII contain certain small areas with a much greater density than indi- 
cated. Examples of this are the districts immediately north of Massachusetts 
Avenue and between College Avenue and Roosevelt Avenue, about Schools 
No. 10, 26 and 55, the foreign settlement south of West Washington Street 
near School No. 5, and several rapidly growing parts of the city immediately 
north of East Washington Street. It is to be observed that most of the resi- 
dential part of the city north of Ohio Street and below Fall Creek is in Type 

III, that wholesale and business districts in the center of the city are in Types- 

IV, V and VI, because comparatively few children and youth have their 
homes there, and that most of the outlying open districts are naturally in 
Types V, VI and VII. 

Of the school population, 8.5 per cent, is colored (4,708). The num_ber 
of foreign-born residents has received large additions in recent years. In two 
neighborhoods south of West Washington Street, and in one to the north, it 
forms a considerable proportion. Generally speaking, the population in other 
parts of the city is American-born. These facts must be taken account of in 
providing for outdoor play and indoor recreation. 

2. Need of Play Space for Children 

Visits to all the school districts of the city have resulted in a tabulated 
statement of the needs of" each district. This study has given a basis for cer- 
tain general conclusions. 

PRIVATE PLAY SPACE— In the central or closely settled residential 
sections of the city the private play space available for the active play of chil- 
dren has practically disappeared. No measured survey is needed to show 
this fact — close acquaintance with the city makes it evident. Where open 
ground still remains in these districts, whether in small or large plots, most 
of it is not usuable for play. Subtract small lawns and gardens and clothes 
yards, where play is not allowed, storage yards, the vacant lots that are un- 
graded or not to be entered, and the remainder is small indeed. This remain- 
der in most districts is private yard space. Now when it is remembered that 

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INDIANAPOLIS RECREATION SURVEY 

the private yard space, when available, is usually cut up into small individual 
plots, it means (1) that games requiring space are precluded, and (2) that 
the plots are usually "private" and can do nothing for most of the children 
who have no yards. This condition prevails in substantially all of the central 
districts and other neighborhoods represented by Types I, II, and III. 

In other residential districts having more yard space, the same difficulties 
are encountered. The street being the only place with combined space is pre- 
ferred, and all but a few vacant lots are ungraded or otherwise not available. 
In the .more open districts, mostly in Types V, VI, and VII, a larger per 
cent, of the total space is free for play, but the suitably graded lots are few. 

PUBLIC PLAY SPACE NEEDED— The first need is to make use of 
suitable space in schoolyards, or small parks owned by the city. In the moje 
crowded districts, w^here practically all the children are forced to the streets 
for play, the need is to acquire play space where there is none. In the greater 
portion of the settled parts of the city where private yards are alone available, 
and most children prefer the street, the need is to get the use of or acquire 
space in areas large enough for play. In other large portions of the city where 
there are lots that are^ not used because they are not graded, the need is to 
get the use of, acquire or lease land which can be operated as a playground. 
Similar needs should^be anticipated in the outskirts of the city in the direc- 
tion of growth. 

It is to be noted that 23 per cent, of the \outhful population of the city 
live in the heaviest types of congestion '^(I and II), 19 per cent, in Type III, 
13 per cent in Type IV^, 26 per cent, in Type V, and only 19 per cent, in 
the outlving sections with more open space are represented by Types VI and 
VII. 

3. Need of Larger Spaces for Youth and Adults: 

Sizable fields are needed for the active boys that yearn for baseball and the 
vigorous sports of youth. Play space for small children is sadly lacking in 
parts of the city, but much less can be said for the available fields for boys 
and youth and adults. Careful experiments in many cities in the use of play- 
grounds for small children show that from 75 per cent, to 95 per cent, usually 
come from one-fourth to one-third of a mile from the playground. This is 
as it should be, for children's playgrounds are neighborhood adjuncts. In the 
case of fields, an easy fifteen minutes walk to the ground, or one-half to three- 
quarters of a mile, is the length of the ''attractive radius" for most of the boys 
and youth. Except on special occasions, the average boys find something else 
to do, easier and nearer at hand, rather than go great distances to a field. 

With this standard in mind, the city has very few open grounds available 
for the sports of youth. Just a few" districts are near Park grounds which 



INDIANAPOLIS RECREATION SURVEY 

are used by the boys of the neighborhood. In some of the outskirts open fields 
are available, but where most of the people dwell there are no fields of suffi- 
cient size for the sports of youth. It is therefore not surprising that the aver- 
age youth gets an outlet for his energies in other directions. The evils of 
loafing and of wasted leisure hours are largely traceable to this deficiency. 
What applies to boys and youth applies also to the adult uses of fields, impos- 
sible in most of the districts where workingmen dwell. From the careful 
examination of every part of the city and the studies in population it appears 
that fully 80 per cent, of the people live in districts where there are no avail- 
able spots for games requiring space. 

II. HOME AND NEIGHBORHOOD CONDITIONS 

The play of children and the legitimate and necessary social recreations of 
youth ought naturally to be associated with the life of a good home and where 
there is a good type of neighborhood life. But where home life has little hold 
and the neighborhood life is not an uplifting social force, the need for organ- 
ized recreation becomes acute. In general, the greatest needs are in the dis- 
tricts showing heavy tj^pes of congestion, and particularly where homes with 
few rooms, and no open spaces, are the rule. But this is not always the case. 
A study of housing conditions gives a clearer index of social needs. In the 
absence of information based on any previous study of this kind, an inquiry 
was instituted with the help of the Parent-Teachers' Association. Informa- 
tion from parents in most of the school districts was supplemented by inter- 
views with the principals of the various grammar schools. The results are 
shown in Table VII in the appendix, giving conditions as reported in each of 
the sixty-five school districts. 

In twenty-eight of these, home and neighborhood recreation facilities are 
not meeting the needs, as they are classed as "poor" or "very poor." Twelve 
districts are classed as "poor to fair," and twenty-four as "good" or "fair." 
Evidently from one-third to one-half the schools are located where the need 
for better uses of leisure is unquestioned. A few instances illustrate how 
social conditions rather than congested conditions are the test of a neighbor- 
hood's need. 

In a district where the houses are mostly roomy and well-kept, and where 
open fields are plentiful, a certain "corner" is a general loafing place and has 
a notoriously bad effect on the way in which spare time of great numbers of 
boys and young men is spent. Several settlements in the city's outskirts have 
poor housing conditions and little in home life that is attractive. On the 
other hand certain central neighborhoods where there is almost no yard space 
and where the need of play space for children and youth is great, are in some 
respects the best parts of the city, as far as the adequacy of life within the 
home is concerned. 

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INDIANAPOLIS RECREATION SURVEY 

It need hardly be added that the recreation problem of the city is by no 
means confined to those of school age (over 55,000). A large number of 
infants under six years get the benefit of parks and playgrounds. When work 
is over, the leisure of young people and adults must be provided for. 

III. THE NEED OF ORGANIZED PLAY AND RECREATION 

OBSERVATION OF CHILDREN OUTDOORS— Owing to the 

time of year (mid-winter) it has been impossible to make a normal observa- 
tion of the outdoor occupations of Indianapolis children. But this is not nec- 
essary in order to verify certain uniform conclusions reached in every similar 
survey that has been made. In the parts of the city where organized play- 
grounds are not operated in the summer, the great majority of children seen 
are on the streets, and a very small percentage in private yards and vacant 
lots. The street is the inevitable play space for the child without a yard, and 
is a Mecca for all children (yards or no). The other children are there and 
there's "something doing." Street play is inevitable in districts without yards 
or wher6 yard space is cut up into small plots, or where the rule is "Keep 
off the grass." Even in districts provided with grounds the children will be 
in the streets as long as-the streets are the most attractive spots. In this state 
of affairs lies the need not only for "play space," but the equally essential need 
for the well organized, attractive playground. 

Observations as to what children do — when seen out of doors — in ordinary 
city conditions, discloses a gieat need. A large proportion (it usually varies 
from 40 per cent, to 60 per cent. ) are not playing, but idle. A small num- 
ber, much greater in some districts than others, are working; and the re- 
mainder are playing. In the survey recently made in Detroit, playing was 
interpreted liberally to cover all sorts of play, not merely games, and but 38.3 
per cent, of the 3,051 children observed were playing. An average of 54.7 
per cent, were doing nothing, and 7 per cent w^ere working. The play seen, 
when analyzed, is often disorganized fooling. Under the hard conditions in 
some districts, wholesome play is difficult. Many people thoughtlessly declare 
that children" play naturally. The truth of the matter is that they have the 
"instinct to play," the desire for self-expression. The form it takes — a game, 
or some social play, or sport, or work — all depends upon the opportunity 
and knowing how. 

EDUCATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE— Where children are in idleness 
or misusing the precious playtime, influences are at work which are counter- 
acting the effects of school training. Right use of play constitutes an educa- 
tional opportunity. After school, freed from the more or less artificial re- 
straints of the school room, the boy or girl has not only the necessary chance 
for more fresh air and exercise, but the golden opportunity to exert individual 

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INDIANAPOLIS RECREATION SURVEY 

initiative. He is in a sense the arbiter of his own fortunes and in his real 
world of conduct. In well-conceived play and games, and the industrial oc- 
cupation in which he delights, is the chance for self-development. Through 
the social games and team play come the valuable lessons in co-operation 
which are the veritable beginnings of civic life. Very rarely there exists in 
a neighborhood a well developed play tradition, opportunity for play and 
work, and a natural and more or less consistent leadership in wholesome 
activities handed down from group to group or through families. In the 
city this is seldom the case — in the congested districts almost never, except 
where well-organized activities have been purposely established. Time and 
energy and money must be devoted to this part of the educational process 
to perfect the product and keep it from being mutilated. 

JUVENILE DELINQUENCY— The records of the Juvenile Court 
show that there were 461 cases brought before the court from April 1, 1912, 
to March 31, 1913. Fully as many more complaints against offenders w^ere 
handled outside without becoming recorded cases. That much of delinquency 
is but a misuse of leisure or due to the absence of normal and natural occupa- 
tions in certain districts is evident from an interesting map prepared by the 
court in connection with this survey. It shows the districts from which juv- 
enile offenders come, and gives a fairly accurate idea of the parts of the city 
that are most in need of good recreation facilities. Wards 1, 5, 11, 12 and 
10 (in that order) show the greatest number of cases. A study of the map 
shows the exact districts in these and other wards. 

The cost of the Juvenile Court last year was $12,658.65. Indianapolis' 
share in support of delinquents in the two State industrial schools brings the 
total to $21,246.65, and this takes no account of the cost of caring for delin- 
quents by other agencies. While it may not be feasible to reduce this expend- 
iture, it is surely good policy to have an adequate recreation system that can 
prevent many of the conditions through which such cases arise. Probation 
officers are among the best advocates of organized recreation, because of their 
first hand knowledge of the causes of delinquency. In two districts of the 
city the court records show a much smaller number of cases than formerly, 
a condition ascribed to the presence of a settlement, a boy's club and play- 
grounds. The presence of recreation centers in the South Side of Chicago, 
according to a study by Allen T. Burns, was coincident with a 28.5 per 
cent, decrease of delinquency within half a mile of the centers. 

Table III in tlie appendix of this report shows the classification of offenses 
and the months in which they were committed. 

IV. COMMERCIAL RECREATION 

In planning for an adequate recreation system for a city it is necessary to 
know the kinds of amusements and recreations already being provided and the 

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INDIANAPOLIS RECREATION SURVEY 

numbers being reached. The possible facilities that can be utilized must also 
be ascertained. A recreation system consists of home and neighborhood life, 
the commercial amusements, the recreative opportunities provided by private 
effort, and those furnished by the city. The first element of the recreation 
system — home and neighborhood life — has been touched upon. It remains 
to discuss the present conditions in the other three, beginning with commer- 
cial recreation. 

The extent of commercial recreations is discussed here. The discussion of 
their recreative value and the maintenance of standards is in the Appendix 
of the report. 

1. Elxhibition Amusements 

The total number of amusement houses in Indianapolis is 93. These can 
be classified as follows: 3 legitimate theaters (drama, opera, etc.) ; 5 vaude- 
ville houses (including two where motion pictures are a large factor) ; 2 
burlesque theatres; 70 motion picture houses, and 13 air domes. All of the 
theatres, vaudeville and burlesque houses are located in the center of the 
city; 22 of the motion picture shows are within the mile square, and 48 are 
in other parts of the city and have more of a neighborhood character. Prac- 
tically all the air domes are outside the mile square. A complete list of the 
commercial exhibition amusements, with location and type of house is in 
Table II in the Appendix. The modern rapid development of the motion pic- 
ture business, combined with theatrical performances, presents the largest 
single factor in. the consideration of how the people are spending their leisure. 

While it is impossible to give exact figures of attendance at these amuse- 
ments, a conservative estimate well within the actual figures can be given. 
Visits to most of the theatres, interviews w^ith men engaged in the local busi- 
ness as to conditions in these and other bouses, detailed reports of visits from 
more than half the motion picture shows, and knoweldge of similar conditions 
elsewhere form the basis of the estimate of attendance in the winter season. 
Table I in the Appendix gives the capacity and estimated attendance. 

It will be seen that there is a total seating capacity of 40,814, w^ith an aver- 
age vreekly attendance of 420, 507. Great care has been exercised to insure 
figures within the facts. Motion picture houses run continuously, and the 
daily attendance is represented by a figure several times the capacity of the 
house. The average capacity of the motion picture houses visited was 378. 
Some of the most successful down-town houses show daily admissions running 
from three to several times capacity. Most houses are nearer the lower fig- 
ure. This report will err on the side of a conservative estimate. Reports 
from local managers and observations here make the method used in similar 
reports In Milwaukee, Kansas City, and Detroit a safe basis of figurina:. 
For the dow^n-town houses the seating capacity has been multiplied by 20 (a 

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INDIANAPOLIS RECREATION SURVEY 

figure lower than the average of Kansas City), to get the average weekly at- 
tendance. (It is to be remembered that houses here are open seven days a 
week, with larger attendance Saturday and Sunday). The capacity of the 
neighborhood houses had been multiplied by 8.5, the average times per week 
for the same type of house in Milwaukee. The vaudeville and burlesque 
houses together run an equivalent of at least 60 performances* a week, making 
allowance for the fact that two of the houses are on the continuous perform- 
ance basis. Multiplying their capacity by eight would be within the figures. 
The variety in number and success of performances at legitimate drama and 
opera, makes five times the seating capacity a conservative figure. 

2. Pool and Billiard Rooms 

With the exception of the theatres and motion pictures, the pool rooms of 
the city represent the largest single factor in attracting men in their leisure 
time. Last year (1913) 471 licenses were issued. The number in force at 
the present time is considerably less than this, and there have been a number 
of changes in proprietors. In several cases where pool rooms were being used 
merely as blinds for gambling, law enforcement has made it unprofitable to 
continue business. About thirty per cent, of the rooms are located in the 
center of the city within the mile square. 

It is impossible to tell the exact attendance at pool rooms, because of its 
constantly changing character. A large number have been visited, and close 
estimates have been made. On the weekly basis, careful estimates place at- 
tendance in winter at 190,000, being reduced very largely in summer time 
till it is probably not much more than twenty per cent, of that figure. The 
pool room is not merely a place for playing pool and billiards — it is a social 
gathering place, and the on-lookers are as numerous as those who actually 
play. Practically all of the rooms have a rather fixed group that frequent them. 
While in many instances the class of patrons is of the best, in general this is 
not the case, and not a few rooms are gathering places for some of the worst 
elements of the city. While most all have some drop-in trade, about twenty 
per cent, appear to be exclusively dependent upon their regular patrons. 

Inside the mile-square practically one-third of the places where pool tables 
are located are in saloons. Two-thirds are straight commercial pool rooms, 
for pool and billiards, and among these are several respectable enterprises. In 
the out-lying sections of the city where the rooms are located in neighbor- 
hoods, almost two-thirds are in connection with saloons. The other one-third 
are mostly small pool rooms offering this t^^pe of amusement to the men of 
a rather distinct neighborhood. Not a few of this latter class are in connec- 
tion with cigar stores. 

In 1913 the total number of tables in commercial pool rooms and saloons 
was 925. Of these, 425 were in the center of the city, and it is fair to infer 

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INDIANAPOLIS RECREATION SURVEY 



that slightly more than 45 per cent, of the entire attendance at pool rooms is 
in that section. Most of the large, well-appointed places, where men seek 
this form of amusement under the best conditions that exist, are in this part 
of the city. Tables in outlying sections numbered as follows: Northeast, 
136; Northwest, 157; Southeast, 142; Southwest, 65. 

3. Bowling 

Most of the bowling in Indianapolis, which is inconsiderable compared 
with many cities of the size, takes place on alleys in clubs and associations. 
In most of them the alleys are public, in the sense that anyone who pays for 
his game can play. Strictly commercial alleys, unassociated with other enter- 
prises, are located at but two small establishments. Six alleys at the Y. M. 
C. A., 20 at private athletic and social clubs (Marion Club, Democratic, 
Turvereins, etc.) 4 in connection with churches, and 4 at other locations. No 
attempt has been made to make careful count of those participating. Evi- 
dently the total attendance is not large compared with other amusements. 
The conditions under which bowling takes place have been much improved, 
largely because institutions have taken it up. Most all who bowl are devot- 
ees of the game itself. Alleys usually have about the same patronage during 
the season. 

4. Public Dances 

The numbers attending "public dances" can be judged by the fact that 
there were 411 licensed dances in the first eight weeks of this year. Fully 
half of these were public in the sense that the public generally might gain 
admission on the payment of a fee. This would indicate an attendance of 
at least 4,000 weekly, not counting the large number of private dances — at 
which invitations are restricted. The great majority of halls are let to parties 
managing dances. At three halls the management operates dances regularly 
each evening, and several others are run two and three times a week. A 
number of clubs make a practice of running public dances for profit in hired 
halls — weekly or more frequently. 

The importance of dancing as a form of public amusement is such that the 
subject is given separate discussion in the Appendix. 

V. RECREATION PROVIDED BY PRIVATE ORGANIZATIONS 

ASSOCIATIONS, SETTLEMENTS, CHURCHES— The physical 
social and intellectual pursuits organized and furthered by philanthropic and 
co-operative organizations constitute a most important factor in providing 
for the leisure of young and old. The total weekly attendance at institutions 

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INDIANAPOLIS RECREATION SURVEY 

that have well equipped buildings, is estimated at 26,345. This does not 
include purely social, musical, athletic or political clubs. Large buildings 
equipped for recreation purposes, centrally located, are the two Y. M. C. 
A.'s, the Y. W- C. A. Three Turnvereins, and two social and athletic clubs 
have well equipped buildings for active indoor recreations and social uses. 

General neighborhood, philanthropic enterprises with buildings used for 
recreation purposes (some large, some small) are in six locations; Christ- 
amore Settlement, Lauter Memorial and Butler Memorial (Boys' Clubs), 
the Foreigners' House of the Immigrants Aid Association, and the Harley 
Gibbs Settlement. The Jewish House is a combined city and neighborhood 
house supported by Jewish people. There are two churches with vestries or 
parts of church buildings devoted more or less regularly to organized sports 
and other recreations under paid leadership. Four mission houses connected 
with religious bodies, furnish social and other recreation as part of their work. 
Five churches have rooms used by clubs for sports more or less regularly each 
week under volunteer leaders, and a number of others have some one activity 
in the form of clubs for boys or girls meeting weekly. 

Certain other organizations, such as the Woman's Department Club and 
the Bo5^s' Club have furnished leadership for the use of public libraries and 
in parts of school buildings for neighborhood recreation. The eight Young 
Men's Institutes are among the clubs with rooms for their own and affiliated 
with churches. 

Table VII shows the extent of the equipment and the weekly attendance at 
most of the buildings nan>ed above. 

CO-OPERATIVE CLUBS, ETC.— No attempt has been made to esti- 
mate the influence of the recreative features furnished to members and 
friends at social, musical and athletic clubs of the city, that have well- 
equipped plants. These are naturally restricted as to membership by the pay- 
ment of fees and other considerations. 

The city has favoring circumstances in the impetus given to physical train- 
ing through the Turnvereins and especially by the presence of the Training 
School of the North American Gymnastic Union, in the building of the 
German House. 

The athletic organizations maintained by boys and 5^oung men for partici- 
pation in baseball and other outdoor sports indicate the amount of athletic 
interest in the city seeking facilities for play. At this early date an employee 
of one of the leading sporting firms has listed the names of 86 baseball teams. 
These are figured at less than one-half the eventual total, as many boys and 
\()uths teams do not organize till the baseball fever comes. The great major- 
ity have no home grounds or courts and are mostly dependent on use of out- 
lying parks. Among the teams mentioned 38 are in regularly organized 
leagues. The thirty basket ball teams listed do not begin to exhaust the list. 

16 



PART TWO 

Public Facilities 

L USES OF PARKS, PLAYGROUNDS, AND PUBLIC BATHING 

IN 1913 

1. The Uses of Park Property 

It is of course impossible to estimate the use of the squares and breathing 
spaces of the city or many of the voluntary uses of the scenic parks, but where 
the parks of the city are equipped for sports and have been subject to permit, 
estimates can be made that indicate the amount and variety of present uses. 

Riverside Park has seven baseball diamonds, and these and other spaces 
are available for football and other field sports. Two 18-hole and one 9-hole 
golf course ofiFer good opportunity for this popular pastime. The Park has 
nine tennis courts, and canoeing is another of its active recreations. Garfield 
Park has three diamonds and four tennis courts. At Brookside Park are two 
diamonds, space for one football field, and six tennis courts. There are three 
courts at Spades Place. Ellenberger's Woods has two tennis courts and a 
six-hole golf course. Children's play spaces — in some cases with apparatus 
and matron in charge — are provided at Garfield Park, Military Park, Spades 
Place, Highland Square, Indianola Square, and McCarty Place. 

It is estimated that 30,000 boys and men played in regular baseball games 
on park grounds in 1913. There were 35 organized football games. No esti- 
mate is made of practice games, and no figures are available for tennis, golf 
and canoeing, all of which are popular. 

THE PRESENT PARK SYSTEM— Table IV gives the area of park 
lands owned by the City of Indianapolis, and indicates the way in which the 
spaces are used for active sports. 

2. Activities of the Recreation Department of the Board of Health 

Last summer the supervised playgrounds and baths operated by this depart- 
ment included six bathing establishments and eight playgrounds. 

BATHS — Between June 28th and August 31st the baths had a total at- 
tendance of 124,581 ; river baths with tents on the shore were located at 
16th Street and Fall Creek, 10th Street and the River (colored), Capitol 

17 



INDIANAPOLIS RECREATION SURVEY 

Avenue and 24th Street, Hanson Avenue and the river, and at Norwood 
(colored). The most popular bath in the city was the large out-door pool 
on Delaware Street on the former site of the gas works. At all of these 
points life-guards and attendants were stationed, and at several of them spe- 
cial hours were reserved for girls and women. 

PLAYGROUNDS — Playgrounds were operated next to ■ the Lauter 
Memorial Building on Greeley Street, in West Indianapolis, on South 
Meridian Street, opposite the Boys' Club Building, on English Avenue, not 
far from School No. 39, on the Court House grounds, on the grounds of the 
Christamore Settlement, at Brighton Beach (colored), in Norwood, and in 
Brightwood on the grounds of the water works opposite School No. 51. A 
director and lady assistant were on each of these grounds from July 14th to 
August 31st. At five of the grounds adjacent buildings were used, and on 
three portable toilets were erected and water connections put in. Four of the 
playgrounds were open from 9 A. M. to 6 P. M. On four grounds arc lights 
were placed so that they could be open in the evening. The total attendance 
for the summer was 71,661. 

The summer activities closed with a play festival at Garfield Park on 
August 27th. The use of the club house at Brightwood has continued 
through Fall and Winter, afternoons and evenings, under directors. It has 
provided a place for boys' clubs, women's clubs, and gymnasium classes, 
shower baths,- etc. One of the city kindergartens makes use of it. Directors 
of the department are working in co-operation with the Boys' Club in con- 
ducting gymnasium at Butler Memorial and Lauter Memorial Buildings. 
At two locations — on Harding Street in West Indianapolis and Ringgold 
Street on the South Side — this department has secured grounds for playground 
purposes. 

THE IMPORTANCE OF BATHING FACILITIES— Thus far pub- 
lic baths have been carried on in only temporary locations, but a large number 
of people have taken advantage of them. The importance of good bathing 
places in a city can hardly be overestimated. They are ^ sanitary provision 
and at the same time furnish a splendid type of recreation. From the stand- 
point of cleanliness, public baths are indispensable. From the standpoint of 
an exercise, swimming is incomparable. Many cities have been generous in 
their provision for public out-door beaches, swimming pools and floating 
baths, and in-door baths and natatornims. Some have gone so far as to re- 
quire a knowledge of swimming before a High School diploma is granted. 
The policy of the department in establishing inexpensive headquarters at 
several points on the banks of the streams and seeing that the latter are 
patrolled, has proved a measure of safety. The next step should be for the 
city to establish a public bathing and swimming establishment which can be 

18 



INDIANAPOLIS RECREATION SURVEY 

permanent, well-constructed according to the most modern standards, and a 
model for similar developments at other points. Much of the indoor bathing 
can be inexpensively provided in parts of school buildings, in field houses, and 
in neighborhood houses used for recreation. 

CO-OPERATION WITH PRIVATE AGENCIES— The principle of 
providing trained leadership in connection with bo5'S' clubs, settlements, and 
other agencies furnishing recreations to the people, is a valuable one. It 
means that these opportunities can reach a much larger number of children 
and young people than if confined to public property. 

A LARGER MAINTENANCE FUND— The law passed last year pro- 
vides for the supervision of public playgrounds and other organized recrea- 
tions by the Board of Health, and sets aside a portion of the tax levy for this 
purpose, equal to from one to two cents on every one hundred dollars of tax- 
able property. This means that there is available a considerable maintenance 
fund for recreation purposes. The expenditures last yesLr were $11,133.21. 
The amount available this year is about four times that sum. 

IL POSSIBLE USES OF PARKS AND PLAYGROUNDS 

1. Best Uses for Different Types of Property 

In considering the uses of public property for recreation and the possible 
additions, it is necessary to have in mind the various kinds of parks, play- 
grounds and baths, and the provisions for indoor recreations which may exist 
in a city. 

PRESENT TYPES OF PARK PROPERTY— The connecting boule- 
vard system as the basis of the plan of park development for the city has a 
fundamental economic and esthetic value that should be well understood. In 
the course of Its development It will provide most parts of the city with sites 
for different kinds of recreation grounds. The other types of park property 
within the city limits are, first, the squares or breathing spaces, not intended 
for active recreation (except In some cases for the play of small children), 
such as University Park or Military Park; second, the larger scenic and pic- 
nic parks (such as Garfield Park and Riverside Park), and third, park 
grounds for active sports, subject to permit or other arrangements, as at the 
two larger parks mentioned and at Brookslde Park. 

THE "PLAY PARK" or "RECREATION CENTER"— A fourth type 
of park, the neighborhood play park and recreation center, with provision 
for active sports for all ages the year-round, equipped with a field house, on 
a large field, and with smaller play spaces organized under trained leadership 
— does not yet exist In Indianapolis, though such a plan has been proposed 
for Wlllard Park and suggested In other localities. An organized recreation 

19 



INDIANAPOLIS RECREATION SURVEY 

center of this kind, located near to a thickly populated district has an exten- 
sive use by large numbers in a district, and is a playground and recreation 
development to be distinguished on the one hand from the more distant parks, 
and on the other from the close in-town breathing spaces laid out with formal 
walks, but with little or no provision for active games and sports. 

CHILDREN'S PLAYGROUNDS— In providing organized play spaces 
in settled districts, distinctions should be made among the various uses to which 
such grounds can best be put. First, children's playgrounds and larger ''play 
fields" should be carefully distinguished. The former, whether separate or 
as part of a larger district field, are a neighborhood proposition, and should 
be confined to the use of the smaller children of not more than eleven to 
twelve years of age. The little ones ought not to go far from home, usually 
not more than a fourth to a third of a mile. Below the age of eleven, boys 
and girls can use the same kind of apparatus and can play many of the same 
games. The older active boys need larger spaces, and they do not mix well 
with the smaller children. For this reason the children's playground should 
consist of an entirely separate space, either a ground by itself or a part of a 
larger ground separated from the "play field" by some distinct line of division. 

BOYS' AND GIRLS' PLAYGROUNDS— A second type of playground 
is that for the active boys from ten or eleven to fifteen or sixteen. These ''boys" 
playgrounds" do not need to be of the size of a regulation field, but they do 
need to be large enough for active games like baseball and football, and for 
athletic contests, even if the diamonds have to be smaller and the distances 
shorter than on a regulation athletic field. Boys of this age can cover a 
pretty good distance and will be attracted to a well-equipped ground ten or 
fifteen minutes walk from home or school as long as there is "something 
doing." "Boys' playgrounds" can be on a space of their own as a separate 
ground, or as a part of some of the larger fields. 

Playgrounds for girls from twelve up, and including young women, have 
become an important factor in recreation systems. Custom or the total lack 
of proper facilities has too often denied to girls the exercise and play which 
are their natural right. Spaces for girls can, in some instances, be provided 
in connection with children's playgrounds, or on some of the more park-like 
areas of a city, where tennis, playground ball, basket ball, field hockey, and 
other outdoor exercise can be provided for girls and young women without 
the difficulties of administration which would be present in connection with 
a field used by large nimibers of boj^s and men. 

PLAY FIELDS— The athletic fields used by older boys and men for 
regulation baseball, football, athletics and other sports, are the fourth type 
of ground. It is this type, the " play field," that is most conspicuously lacking 
in Indianapolis. 

BATHING — In the development of parks, play fields and playgrounds 

20 



INDIANAPOLIS RECREATION SURVEY 

the possibility of certain other types of recreation needs to be kept in mind. 
Important among these are outdoor bathing pools, river-baths, indoor swim- 
ming pools, and indoor baths of different, types. 

INDOOR RECREATION— Wherever a suitable public building is in 
a district where indoor recreations are needed to foster neighborhood and 
supplement home life, it is a possible recreation asset, and in the erection of 
needed structures in connection with outdoor sports their possible indoor uses 
should be considered. The year-round "recreation center" consists of a field 
house, not merely as an adjunct to a playfield, but with gymnasium, assembly 
hall, and smaller rooms for indoor uses. 

ORGANIZED METHODS— At least three important points should be 
kept in mind in providing centers of recreation. (1) They should be devel- 
oped according to the best esthetic standards, furnishing recreation in sur- 
roundings that are as far as possible, beautiful. (2) Experience in many cities 
has taught that four-fifths of the patronage of fields and recreation centers 
comes from within a half or three-quarters of a mile. For small children 
the corresponding distance is smaller still. Playfields and recreation centers 
must be established in or near the settled districts. (3) Organized methods 
under trained leadership^ are absolutely necessary to make grounds consistently 
useful. This applies alike to playgrounds, playfields, and recreation centers, 
and to the varied recreative uses of parks. 

2. Location of Playfields and Recreation Centers 

ALONG PARKWAYS— The plans of the Park Department for a sys- 
tem of connecting parkways along the banks of the White River and three 
of its tributaries (Fall Creek, Rogue's Run, and Pleasant Run), means — 
parkways, and in some cases larger park spaces, within at least a mile and a 
half of every part of the city. The civic benefits of this basic development are 
large, indeed. To furnish facilities for active recreation, particularly fields 
of sufficient size near to the domicile of the people is another important func- 
tion. In the eventual development of the parkways along the streams there 
are several points where such fields can be located. Among these are the 
proposed Merritt Playground on White River, and one or two points further 
down the stream, and four points along Fall Creek where the development 
is to be widened sufficiently. On Pogue's Run, Brookside Park can be de- 
veloped into a splendid organized recreation center with room for several 
fields and .playgrounds. A similar plan should be devised where the stream 
passes through the Technical Institute grounds. The same principle can be 
applied to the acquisition of property along Pleasant Run. 

OTHER CENTERS NEARER TO MORE POPULOUS DIS- 
TRICTS — But playfields or recreation centers located along these streams 

21 



INDIANAPOLIS RECREATION SURVEY 

cannot adequately reach some of the large centers of population between them, 
where the first needs lie. Pogue's Run is on the average two and a half miles 
from Fall Creek or Pleasant Run. At most a three-quarter mile radius cov- 
ers the real sphere of influence of- a field or recreation center. Consequently 
other property, right in the populous districts needing recreation needs to be 
acquired and developed. 

Playfields are much needed on the South Side in wards 12, 11, and 10, 
and in the region south of them that is too far from Garfield Park. More 
specifically these districts are (1) the South Meridian Street neighborhood 
below the Manual Training High School, and the neighborhood nearer the 
river about School No. 12, (2) the southeast neighborhood between Willard 
Park and Garfield Park, (3) the eastern part of the South Side which would 
be well-served by the operation of a recreation center at Willard Park. Other 
needs are (4) in the northeast part of the city in Ward 1, near School No. 
55, (5) in the northwest part of the city traversed by Indiana Avenue, (.6) 
north of Washington Street near School No. 52, and in West Indianapolis 
(southwest part of the city) between the river and School No. 49. This 
outlines the needs that are most pressing. 

In these districts the Park Department already has available undeveloped 
property, viz. at Willard Park, at the Merritt Playground and north of 
School No. 49. It is planning to acquire property on the South Side. By 
applying a three-quarter mile radius from the possible location for fields, 
along the streams and from' centers placed in the districts named, it will be 
seen that there will still be large portions of the city without accessible 
means for active recreation. Such districts should eventually be provided for 
by the purchase of fields, or by the enlargement of school yards. Children's 
playgrounds for an immediate neighborhood might be part of a fully devel- 
oped recreation center, but these serve so small a territory, and are so natur- 
ally and economically connected with school administration that they should 
be furnished for the most part in school yards. 

PLAYFIELD EQUIPMENT— A typical playfield for youth and adults 
has a field large enough for baseball, football, hockey, track athletics, tennis, 
and other sports suitable to open fields, with a possibility of skating in winter. 
It has bathing facilities, and a swimming pool, if possible. Separate spaces 
should be provided for the sports and games of girls and women, and there 
may be separate children's playgrounds. Good surfacing, shade, and a land- 
scape plan satisfying to the eye are essentials. In the field house are the office 
of the director, baths and lockers, drinking water, toilet facilities, etc. A 
fully developed field of the "recreation center" type, has an indoor gymnas- 
ium, club rooms, social rooms, and sometimes opportunities for work as well 
as play. 

22 



INDIANAPOLIS RECREATION SURVEY 

NEED OF A TYPICAL RECREATION CENTER— Obviously the 
best plan for Indianapolis is to develop one center w^ell — a center w^hich can 
be typical for similar later developments. This can well be done at Willard 
Park, a v^^ell-located tract of suitable size. Evidently with this policy in mind 
the Park Department has considered such a plan for this park. Of the other 
proposed locations that in the central South Side is more central to needy 
districts. In this or other locations there is the possibility of co-operating 
with school authorities, or with private organizations in the use of adjacent 
buildings to serve as field houses. 

3. Organized Methods Applied to the Larger Parks 

The Park Department has made a good beginning in stimulating the use 
of its scenic parks and the spaces where active recreation is available. Base- 
ball leagues have been formed, other sports have been organized, and golf 
and canoeing and children's park play spaces put in charge of instructors or 
attendants. Leadership and organized methods applied to the "popular 
sports" and a variety of other activities possible in parks, but less well- 
known, will mean a still larger use. The group and social uses of the parks 
by clubs and organizations, families and individuals from every part of the 
city will be much increased when by such means they become acquainted 
with the possible benefits the parks can be to them. 

4. Policy as to Use of Other Park Spaces 

Most of the small green spots and breathing spaces are not adapted for a 
large, active, recreation use. At best these can be used only for the play of 
small children. This is true of such spaces as University, St. Clair, High- 
land, Morris, and Indianola Squares, McCarty Place, Noble Place, etc. Two 
or three of these have increased use because adjacent to schools and libraries. 
The larger scenic parks, such as Riverside and Garfield, can constantly in- 
crease in the kind of recreative uses to which they are put. This is also 
true of points along Fall Creek, Brookside Park, and Ellenberger's Woods. 
The great variety of sports and volunteer recreations now possible in these 
parks will greatly profit by organized methods reaching to the people, ac- 
quainting them with facilities, and making it natural and easy to make use of 
them. 

In providing district playfields, rapid development is needed in a few cases 
with pressing needs and gradual development at other points. The former 
are Willard Park, a new South Side field, the Technical grounds, Merrit 
Playground, fields in Ward 1, and a field for colored 5^outh to the north of 
Wards 5 and 6. The latter applies to the available fields along the park- 
ways and others to be acquired between. 

23 



INDIANAPOLIS RECREATION SURVEY 

At each of the grounds that can become playfields the policy should be to 
provide first the ball-fields, athletic grounds, tennis courts, and other facilities 
that can be used with little supervision. In the well-settled neighborhoods 
(as at Wlllard Park, for example) a field house and organized leadership 
should also be provided as soon as possible. The amount of supervision and 
the facilities should increase with the growth of the neighborhoods affected. 
Field houses (with baths, lockers and toilets) should be planned for to in- 
crease the use and ejfficiency of grounds. In a thickly settled neighborhood 
without good indoor recreations the advisability of a more fully equipped 
plant with a variety of indoor uses should be considered. 

In acquiring property for recreation purposes there should always be kept 
in mind the possibility of enlarging school yards in the districts where fields 
will be needed. Certain of the residential districts where open fields have 
disappeared or are fast disappearing, are cases in point. The parks are too 
remote. The obvious need is to forestall the future by having at least one very 
large school yard (more than two acres). Where this cannot be done a 
separate field is a necessity. 

III. SCHOOL PROPERTY 

1. Schoolyards 

SIZE OF SCHOOLYARDS— The sixty-five grammar schools of the 
city have been visited in order to determine the size and present and possible 
uses of the school yards. Table V in the Appendix shows the size of each 
and the number of square feet per capita with the children enrolled in each 
school. 

The two large high schools have no play space. Seven of the 
grade schools have less than thirty feet per child. This amount 
of space Is the absolute minimum established by the London school 
board. It is too low to apply to most American cities. Ground used con- 
stantly for play purposes accommodates about three hundred children per 
acre. Such use does not permit large space games, but confines active play 
to basketball. Indoor baseball, group games, etc. Making due allowance for 
the fact that much of the time the ground will be used by only a portion of 
the children, 50 to 75 square feet per child seems a reasonable minimum. 
One-half of the schools of Indianapolis have less than 50 feet per 
child. It must be kept in mind that the population Is growing, the schools 
are being crowded, and that the need for sizable yards will be greater as 
time goes on. 

SCHOOLYARDS NATURAL CHILDREN'S GROUNDS— School- 
yards must not only be adequate for the recess play of the school children, 

24 



INDIANAPOLIS RECREATION SURVEY 

but they are the natural children's plaj^grounds for most neighborhoods, after 
school during term time, and in summer when school is not in session, and 
the school building, with its drinking water, toilets, and other conveniences, 
is an essential adjunct to both these uses. The play of children has been 
increasingly recognized as a part of their education. This, and the fact that 
the natural play time during most of the year is immediately after school, 
makes the schoolyard the logical and economical play space. In Indianapolis 
the yards are kept open for play until 4 P. M. in Spring and Fall, as well 
as for usual recess play. In many other cities they are open regularly in 
summer and for a longer period afternoons and on Saturdays in term time. 
The ordinary schoolyard is of such small size that it can be used only as 
a playground for small children, mostly below eleven or twelve years of age. 
Active boys of older age, and youth and adults, should be accommodated at 
some larger playfield, unless the yard is exceptionally large. 

SUPERV^ISION — There is need of supervision on playgrounds, not only 
for the purpose of controlling the grounds and giving an equal opportunity 
to all, but because the activities of children and youth need to be in the hands 
of people who understand them and their needs. Play leadership is becoming 
as much of a profession as other branches of teaching. Through the depart- 
ment of physical training in the schools in co-operation with the recreation 
department of the city, it ought to be possible to introduce the kind of system 
which has been so successful in many other cities. It will prove of great 
benefit to the children in the neighborhoods in which they reside and add to 
the efficiency of the plan of education. 

EQUIPMENT OF SCHOOLYARDS— Practically every school in the 
city has play apparatus in its schoolyard. In all cases this has been provided 
by the cildren, their parents and the teachers. The typical equipment con- 
sists of swing frames, giant strides (or Maypoles) and travelling ladders. 
Some have horizontal bars, basketball standards, see-saws, tether poles, sand 
boxes, etc. A few only have little or no equipment. In nearly every case 
there are a number of basketballs or footballs and frequently other play ma- 
terial. In these respects the majority of the schools are fairly well provided. 
But the fact that apparatus and materials for play have been provided by the 
districts themselves has operated to the disadvantage of some of the schools 
in needy sections. Some of these that need equipment most have the least of 
it. For this reason each of the yards ought to be brought up to a standard 
equipment by the city. 

There are certain features that are fundamental essentials to a good play- 
ground. The ground should be well surfaced, and easily drained and dust- 
less. There ought to be shade, and if possible seats for parents and others. 
For a ground to be well managed a fence is necessary. The use of rooms in 

25 



INDIANAPOLIS RECREATION SURVEY 

the school building, as- well as the toilets, drinking water, etc., adds to the 
efficiency of a play center. 

GREATEST NEEDS — In general such playgrounds for small children 
will be of use mostly to children within a quarter or a third of a mile from 
the school building. There are approximately 30 of the yards that are so 
situated that the need is pressing. A list of these has been furnished to school 
and recreation authorities. Every schoolyard in a settled district will be 
increasingly needed as a playground. 

2. School Buildings 

indoor' EQUIPMENT— Table VI in the Appendix shows the schools 
of the city that have indoor equipment such as auditoriums or gymnasiums, 
large corridors, extra rooms, and other facilities which can be used for recrea- 
tion purposes outside of school hours. About one-half (32 buildings) have 
good or fair rooms for general meetings. Three are adjacent to libraries. 
In most districts needing organized neighborhood recreations, the school build- 
mg has equipment that can meet part of the need if properly supervised. 

Almost without exception the schools have pianos, and most of them have 
more than one. Several have piano players or phonographs. All the schools 
in which there are sixth, seventh and eighth grades, have wands, dumb bells 
and clubs for classes of fifty or more. Twenty schools have manual training 
benches, accommodating twenty to twenty-five pupils, and nineteen have sim- 
ilar equipment for cooking. A few have sewing rooms, and several have 
arrangements for other forms of industrial work such as printing. Most 
buildings have been erected without special features for physical exercise. 

PRESENT USES — Thirty-eight of the schools have parent-teacher associa- 
tions. In many buildings meetings of parents or entertainments are held more or 
less frequently. In five school districts teachers and others have given a large 
amount of time to the supervision of valuable recreative activities for the 
children and young people of the community. In one instance a large amount 
of this activity is of an industrial character, but at the same time a well 
organized boys' club and other organizations have grown out of the enter- 
prise. In another case teachers have given time to the supervision of basket 
ball in one of the assembly halls, and an active parent-teachers' association 
has conducted a series of entertainments more frequently than is the case in 
most schools. At another school the principal has secured the assistance of 
outside organizations in the support of classes in manual training and domes- 
tic science. These cases are mentioned to illustrate the fact that work of this 
kind seems to be limited largely by the amount of volunteer service that prin- 
cipals and teachers can give to it. At present the principal is naturally held 
responsible for everything that goes on in the building. Additional activities 

26 



INDIANAPOLIS RECREATION SURVEY, 

mean more time and energy on the part of principals and teachers, outside 
of the regular school hours. 

EXTENDED USES POSSIBLE— In the course of recreation survey ot 
the city there has been encountered a general desire for the use of school build- 
ings f,or recreation purposes. This is quite natural when 139 other com- 
munities are already using their school buildings in this way. They are 
proving to be the means of meeting just the kind of needs shown in the sur- 
vey. It is an inspirng sight to see large numbers of young people and adults 
in profitable pursuits and amusements in buildings of this kind. A com- 
munity spirit is engendered by the feeling of proprietorship which the people 
have in the use of a public building. 

A gymnasium of an assembly hall can be used for physical training, athlet- 
ics, and games. A game room or reading room, and possibly a department 
of the public library can be located in other parts of the building. Some 
rooms can be used for clubs of various kinds (social, musical, literary, debat- 
ing, etc.). Under the right leadership industrial activities can be included, 
such as sewing, cooking, and millinery for girls, manual training, photogra- 
phy, etc., for boys. The assembly room is used for lectures and entertain- 
ments, and for various social activities. School buildings are sometimes used 
for a supervised evening study hour, for children who have no suitable place 
at home. 

SUPERVISION — Here, as in the case of playgrounds, the secret of suc- 
cess is good leadership. The best plan is to have a trained organizer who can 
act either as assistant to the principal of the school, or at least in thorough 
co-operation with school policy. It is much better to have two or three such 
centers started in the right neighborhoods as a typical demonstration of the 
good use of these buildings which otherwise are unused assets in the late after- 
noon and evening. The obvious places for such well-developed centers are 
in the schools in needy districts where some few activities have already been 
started. It is a mistake to have all the buildings opened to recreative uses 
unless strong leadership is guaranteed. A trained supervisor of the social and 
recreative uses of school buildings can inaugurate intensive work in a few 
centers under trained assistants. These leaders will furnish types of work 
which can later be duplicated in other places. At the same time such a super- 
visor can be of great assistance in planning and co-operating with Parent- 
Teachers' Associations In the occasional uses of other buildings. In the 
course of the survey the school districts with the greatest needs have been 
studied and the results made available for school authorities and the Federa- 
tion of Parent-Teachers' Associations. 



27 



INDIANAPOLIS RECREATION SURVEY 

V 

3. Suggestions for Development of Recreative Uses of the School 

Plant 

A policy which would improve the facilities in 'school yards and school 
buildings with the double purpose of making more efficient the present school 
activities and making the school plant available for neighborhood uses, will 
take into account the following considerations: 

(a) School yards should be enlarged in many cases so that they will pro- 
vide at least for a per capita space of 50 to 75 square feet. Where other 
fields are far from the district, the enlargement of the school yard into a 
playfield is by far the best solution of this phase of the recreation problem 
of the district. School No. 55 is a good example of such a location. 

(b) Should the Technical Institute grounds come into possession of the 
school authorities, suggestions already in mind should be followed; a stadium 
for high school athletic fields and a neighborhood recreation field for that 
part of the city. This is a splendid location for the first typical girls' and 
women's recreation fields. The grounds are so large that many acres can be 
kept in their natural state of beauty. As Pogue's Run passes through a por- 
tion of the grounds, a co-operative plan will doubtless be worked out with 
the Park Department so that the recreation features can be developed in 
accordance with a scheme that is consistent with the extension of. the 
boulevards. 

(c) The schoolyards have a good start in the matter of play apparatus, 
yet certain schools are still poorly equipped. Every yard should be well sur- 
faced, and most every yard should be fenced. 

(d) The use of school buildings for evening recreation centers should be 
demonstrated and put on a firm basis by opening a few buildings under 
trained leadership. 

(e) New buildings that are to be erected should be planned with the idea 
of recreation in mind, both for uses in school hours and the so-called extended 
use of the building. This can usually be done without much additional expense. 
Auditoriums can be planned so that they can be used as gymnasiums, if it 
is not possible to have a separate room for that purpose. Rooms with mov- 
able seats will be available both day and night, and can have a larger variety 
of uses than the ordinary schoolroom with fixed desks. A corridor should 
always be large enough for physical exercise. The industrial plant (manual 
training) is always a double asset. Baths are needed in several districts 
where it is economy to provide them in school buildings. 

(f) Indianapolis has a good start in the policy of intra-school athletics 
as opposed to an over-development of highly competitive forms of sport. Yet 
there is much room for stimulating athletics in the grade schools, — sports of 
a kind that do not require severe training. With a well-directed system of 

28 



INDIANAPOLIS RECREATION SURVEY 

school playgrounds and convenient high school fields, emphasis can be placed 
upon still more of the wholesome games and sports in which every one can 
take part. This will mean much in bringing up children with healthy bodies, 
hygienic habits, and a normal outlook upon life. 

IV. PUBLIC LIBRARIES 

In three ways the public library and its branches give an important contri- 
bution to the recreational life of the city: through the supply of good read- 
ing matter, through lectures and story-telling hours, and by giving the use of 
auditoriums for club meetings, social gatherings, gymnastics, choruses, enter- 
tainments, etc. 

Five of the Branch Libraries are in well-.equipped buildings near to schools 
(three immediately adjacent) and offer good opportunities for co-operation 
with the school plant and w^ith organizations interested in the welfare of the 
community. All these have halls well adapted for recreational uses. 

These uses are indicated in Table IX in the Appendix. The library build- 
ings have shown large possibilities in the way of more club uses, lectures, 
social gatherings, etc., where good leadership has been available. The begin- 
nings already made are largely due to work done by the Woman's Depart- 
ment Club, with the co-operation of teachers and local organizations and of 
the Boys' Club. This work of the Woman's Department Club has been 
highly commendable. 

V. STREETS 

Many of the streets in settled parts of the city are inevitably the only play 
space for children for some time to come. To secure other adequate play 
space at once in all such portions of the city would mean prohibitive expense. 

Several cities have met a sim.ilar situation by reserving certain of the streets 
where there is light traffic so that children can play there in safety at specified 
hours. The recre?.tion departments of such cities, or people interested in these 
special districts, have seen that proper supervision has been provided at such 
time in order to insure safety and to stimulate the children in the best u:e 
of the streets. Frequently parents have taken great interest in this phase of 
the matter. 

VI. PRESENT SUPERVISION OF RECREATION IN 
INDIANAPOLIS 

DIVIDED CHARACTER— Three of the departments of the city gov- 
ernment give more or less supervision to recreation facilities, at present. The 
Recreation Department of the Board of Health has had its directors and as- 

29 



INDIANAPOLIS RECREATION SURVEY 



sistants in charge of eight playgrounds and six bathing 'places in summer, 
and has a few indoor activities the year round. The Park Department gives 
a. limited amount of supervision through the issuance of permits for the use 
of ball fields, the operation of golf links and tennis courts, and such time 
as its officials can give to organizing leagues among the teams using the fields. 
In the schools a successful system of intra-school athletics has the assistance 
of some of the teachers of the high schools, in such time as they can give to 
it after school hours. School yards of the grade schools are open for an hour 
after school with regular day-school teachers in charge. They are not organ- 
ized playgrounds. Several private organizations are also doing a great deal 
in the way of furnishing recreations of a good tj^pe. Several of these have 
furnished supervision for activities conducted in public buildings. 

On the whole the divided character of the supervision of recreations in 
Indianapolis is the greatest obstacle to the full use of the facilities the city 
now has. A similar obstacle is the lack of a common policy among private 
organizations. 

NEED OF TRAINED DIRECTORS AND YEAR ROUND AC- 
TIVITIES — Next to its divided character the greatest need of Indianapolis, 
compared with other cities, is the emplo5'ment of trained recreation leaders 
in charge of centers of recreation in neighborhoods. Men and women trained 
to this work, knowing intimately the needs of the neighborhood and. living in 
it make the recreation center a valuable reinforcement of home life and school 
work. 

The summer playgrounds and baths have demonstrated how great num- 
bers can be given good opportunities for play, and swimming and bathing, by 
means of organized methods. In one locality where a club house has been 
secured, the first year-round activities have been made possible. The Park 
Department has extended its facilities for free public use, and has begun the 
organized use of ball fields in parks. The good results of this kind of service 
indicate the large possibilities of a regular system of trained supervision in 
all recreative uses of parks. Teachers with other tasks have done a good 
deal to direct sports and other uses of leisure in the school system. Success- 
ful extension in this department of school work will also depend on more paid 
supervision by supervisors and leaders who give their entire time to recreation 
leadership. 



30 



PART THREE 

Summary of Principal Needs 

SPECIFIC NEEDS IN BRIEF—l. Children's playgrounds can be se- 
cured economically by making school ^ards available. These grounds need 
trained supervision after school hours, in the open season, and through the 
summer. Several schoolyards need to be enlarged. They are too small for 
recess use or for adequate after-school play. 

2. There are in the city no recreation centers or ''play-parks." ' Playfields 
— either separate or as parts of parks — are needed in the more populous dis- 
tricts. These are needed mainly for youth and adults. 

3. In order to standardize the recreation service and show what is possi- 
ble, the city needs a large well-equipped recreation center and playfield, or- 
ganized to meet the needs of a large number of people ; a well surfaced, 
fenced and equipped schoolyard as a model children's playground ; and perma- 
nent outdoor and indoor bathing establishments of approved type. 

4. In acquiring large playfields as distinguished from children's play- 
grounds, it will be a measure of economy for the Park Board and the School 
Board to co-operate in a well-understood policy. Some fields are available 
on park land connected with the boulevard system. Some must be separate 
park properties. Others can well be enlarged schoolyards. 

5. The recreative uses of the outlying parks can be still further extended 
by more organized methods. 

6. The use of school buildings as rocial and recreation centers will meet 
important community needs in certrin parts of the city. Such centers need 
trained leaders in charge, acting for the community and under school author- 
ity. It is logical to develop the first centers in schools that already have con- 
siderable use of the plant. Communit}- uses of buildings by parent-teacher 
associations and others should be encouraged. 

7. More public bathing facilities are needed — (1) River baths such as 
have been operated, with permanent houses where possible; (2) outdoor pools 
in connection with centrally located playfields with field houses; (3) shower 
baths (and tub baths) in field houses or school buildings; (4) the first indoor 
pool or natatorium in a central location. 

8. In planning new school buildings, provision should be made for physi- 
cal training In school houses and for the extended use of the building as a 
community center. This means an auditorium easily accessible and with 



INDIANAPOLIS RECREATION SURVEY 

adequate exits, arranged so that it can be used as a gymnasium, unless a sep- 
arate gymnasium is provided ; wide corridors and convertible rooms add much 
to the use of a building. Basements can be arranged for shower baths and 
locker-rooms. 

9. Private philanthropic organizations furnishing recreation need a com- 
mon understanding to prevent duplication and to co-operate with public 
authorities in developing an adequate recreation system. 

10. The greatest fundamental need is a unified administration of all the 
city's recreation facilities. 

SUPERVISION AND LEADERSHIP EMPHASIZED— Both play- 
grounds and recreation centers need resourceful and usually trained leader- 
ship. Sometimes the main emphasis has been put on the acquisition of fa- 
cilities without realizing the importance of supervision. No greater mistake 
could be made. The increasing number of cities with well-established, 
successful year-round public recreation systems are furnishing cumulative 
experience showing the necessity of securing trained directors to get the 
greatest possible use from the city's facilities. The organized summer play- 
grounds in Indianapolis have illustrated this principle. But there is an added 
advantage when year-round positions are created and the recreation leader 
becomes identified with the interests of a community or neighborhood. 

One city has a bare field without apparatus. Day after day scores of boys 
can be seen on it engaged in a variety of active sports with all the vim we 
have a right to expect from vigorous boys; and groups of girls on another 
part of the ground — the result of organization by a trained director and an 
assistant. Equipment is very desirable, but some ideally furnished grounds 
have shown disappointing results and stilted activities, because of incompetent 
leadership. Playgrounds have been monopolized by a few rowdies — or made 
unfit places for play because of no leadership. 

Many cities are exercising great care in the selection and training of those 
who have charge of play and recreation centers. These are in a true sense 
educational centers, for the play and the industrial work given in them are 
but different forms of natural and desirable activity. For this reason they 
should be in charge of leaders who fundamentally understand the importance 
of making the playtime join with home and school in the interest of complete 
education. 

NEED OF AN ADEQUATE SYSTEM— In furnishing an adequate 
system for Indianapolis there are certain favorable conditions, — a growing 
park system as a physical basis for many recreation activities, unused assets in 
the school yards and buildings, a system of supervised playgrounds and baths 
and increased funds for supervision maintenance. 

The nature and size of the present task is indicated by the fact that more 

32 



INDIANAPOLIS RECREATION SURVEY 

than half the population of school age (over 55,000) live in neighborhoods 
without permanent provision for outdoor play, and that little more than a 
beginning has been made in providing neighborhood indoor centers of recrea- 
tion. Recreation for young people over school age and for adults is important. 
Men and wom.en must' live as well as earn a living. The large majority of 
the population will be increasingly dependent upon the public recreation sys- 
tem for a large part of their recreational life. Predictions place this popula- 
tion at 305,000 in 1920 and 414,000 in 1932. 

The relation of good recreation to the bad influences that exist in a city, 
to delinquency and crime and vice, ought to be well understood. It is bad 
business to be spending thousands on court procedure, jails and reformatories, 
when smaller sums spent on constructive measures will remove many of the 
causes. Give the young people lots of open air, teach them good habits of 
exercise, and furnish them with vigorous play and joyous work, and they 
will habitually do these things. Active and virile boys and 5^oung men, 
healthy and vigorous girls and young women, with a fair outlook upon life, 
thrive iii a city that holds to Its natural resources and stimulates outdoor 
recreations, normal home and social pleasures, elevating intellectual pursuits 
and other refining influences in the hours of leisure. 

In connection with the educational system of the city hundreds of thous- 
ands of dollars are already being spent In the careful training of children 
and young people In the schools. It is poor economy to exercise great care up 
to one o'clock or four o'clock, and then turn youth and children on the streets 
to have a large part of the w^ork undone. An efficient educational system 
must make sure that the leisure time is operated In thorough co-operation 
and Is sustaining the work of the home and of the school. Hundreds of cities 
have recognized this fact by Incorporating supervised play and recreation into 
the school system, or at least under school supervision. A good recreation 
system — Including parks, playgrounds, baths and other recreation centers — 
Is a business asset for a city In the same sense that a good school system or 
a good transportation system Is an asset, because It makes the city a better 
place in which to live. 

The fact that lives are happier, and citizens of all ages are healthier, and 
that their outlook upon life is brighter, would be justification enough for an 
adequate recreation system, even were these other compelling reasons not 
operative. 



33 



Part Four 

Administration 



PART FOUR 

Administration 



UNIFIED ADMINISTRATION NECESSARY— In order to make 
use of the facilities that the city has, and to make the needed improvements, 
unity of action through a unified method of administration of recreation is 
the first essential. The Park Department has large resources in its parks 
and playfield sites, and its ability to acquire more fields. The School Com- 
mittee has its school buildings and its school yards. The Recreation Depart- 
ment of the Board of Health is charged with the supervision of play and 
recreation activities and has a considerable fund for the purpose. To get 
the facilities used implies a w^orking arrangement between the departments. 

A study of successful recreation systems in 28 cities of over 100,000 where 
a similar problem exists (the utilization of the resources of all departments 
by a unified sj^stem for supervision of activities) shows that eight of these 
cities have a commission, a public recreation committee, or a similar arrange- 
ment by which a single specially created recreation board directs recreation 
activities and other boards are represented; and that in two other cities a 
private organization uses public funds to administer the recreation facilities 
of the city. In eight cities Park Boards and School Boards provide for super- 
vision of activities, and in five of these a single general superintendent has 
directed the activities of both departments. In five cities the supervision of 
recreation activities is In the hands of the park department. 

While it is true that the form of administration has varied, it is likewise 
true that the plan of a single board or at least a common understanding by 
which the supervision of all recreation activities becomes unified, is absolutely 
necessary to bring the best results. Without some such plan a broad recrea- 
tion policy which meets needs in their order, and combines the resources of a 
city under uniformly effective supervision, is impossible. 

SUCH A PLAN FOR INDIANAPOLIS— A committee representing 
health, park, and school boards and the citizen interest appears to be the 
logical means of developing an adequate, unified, recreation policy in India- 
napolis. This, of course, implies the working out of definite arrangements 
consistent with the duties and policies of the boards represented. A similar 
plan is now in operation in a number of cities. 

35 



INDIANAPOLIS RECREATION SURVEY 

The Health Board in Indianapolis has funds for securing directors and 
organizers of play and recreation activities. The Park Department has not 
only parks and playfields, but the planning ability and the working force to 
make recreation grounds beautiful. The School Board has not only grounds 
and buildings, but the educational point of view that is fundamental in a 
recreation system. A public recreation committee, even with a quasi-legal 
status can constantly plan for recreation activities in regular meetings, always 
securing the approval of the boards concerned before View ^policies iare 
initiated. 

A common system of supervision under a representative board means econ- 
omy and efficiency in developing the recreation system. The consideration 
that there is possibility of friction in the use of the same facilities by two dif- 
ferent boards is more than offset by the useless expense involved in purchas- 
ing new facilities, thus duplicating suitable property already owned by the 
city. For this reason present facilities should be used, the exact powers of 
each board in relation to a given proposition clearly defined, and all boards 
brought to share in the working out of a common policy. An analogous case 
is the development of traffic and convenience in living by different boards 
using streets (water, electric, gas and transportation systems all involved) 
without obtaining new facilities elsewhere at great expense. Furthermore, 
the feasibility of such a plan as far as play and recreation are concerned, is 
attested by its successful operation In a number of cities. 

ESSENTIALS — The experience of other cities points to these essentials 
in developing a permanent, successful recreation system: 

(1) A superintendent, and an Increasing number of recreation directors 
devoting their entire time to this work. This supervisory force should be 
as competent as possible, trained by experience and schooling for this particu- 
lar work, devoting themselves exclusively to the needed activities of children, 
youth and adults in leisure time. 

(2) Regular and sufficient furnls for the maintenance and supervision of 
recreation. 

(3) A permanent board In charge of the work. The recreation superin- 
tendent needs the backing and the active Interest of a board or committee 
whose members have a primary Interest in the success of the recreation sys- 
tem and who in combination represent its various elements. 



36 



PART FIVE 

Recommendations 



I. NEXT STEPS IN SECURING RECREATION FACILITIES 

A UNIFIED PLAN AND POLICY— A policy in keeping with plans 
of the public and private authorities concerned with recreation, leads to the 
following suggestions for the immediate future. These involve as a first step, 
natural and suitable working arrangements between various authorities, pub- 
lic and private, now controlling facilities. Administration from this stand- 
point has been discussed. 

PLAYGROUNDS ' FOR CHILDREN— The operation of children's 
grounds in summer at locations where there is free use of grounds and ad- 
jacent buildings, viz: the Court House, Christamore Settlement, opposite 
Butler Memorial on South Meridian Street, next to the library at Norw^ood, 
and at Brightwood Clubhouse. Summer use of a number of schoolyards 
selected from the following: Schools No. 7, 12, 31, 22, 39, 9, 26, 2, 5, 24, 
52, 53, and others. One or two of these to be surfaced and equipped as 
model school yard grounds. Another possible location is near School 16 
and the Lauter Memorial Building. If possible, after school hours and Sat- 
urdays, in the open season. Spring and Fall, trained play-leaders should be 
placed on school yards. Children's playgrounds on park spaces adjacent to 
thickly settled districts need play-leaders, in case no schoolyard organized 
as a playground is near; for example, Military Park, Spade's Place, etc. 

PLAYFIELDS FOR YOUTH AND ADULTS— WiUard Park, to be 
graded and equipped for baseball and other sports, so that an organized field 
can be operated; then the completion of the plan for a recreation center there 
as a standard for this type of play-park. A South Side field to be purchased 
near the most thickly settled part of the South Side, and to be graded, equipped 
and organized. A colored boys' playground has been recently acquired on 
Almont Street in Ward 1, and will be operated. Playfields west and north 
of the Capitol are needed. The Merritt Playground should soon be im- 
proved. Another location is needed further east to serve the colored popula- 
tion^ either side of Indiana Avenue. 

BATHING AND SWIMMING — Supervised swimming places in sum- 
mer on the banks of streams and other locations to be continued, as they are 

37 



INDIANAPOLIS RECREATION SURVEY 

an economical method of serving large numbers. Outdoor pools ought to 
be a part of the improvement of certain playgrounds or playiieids. A central, 
permanent, year-round bathing establishment is much needed (see Future 
Development), and the plan for its location and improvement should be 
made. An economical means of giving bathing opportunities to children 
(and adults as well) in some districts is by installing shower baths and tub 
baths in school buildings. 

RECREATIVE USES OF LARGER PARKS— At Riverside, Garfield 
and other parks more of ihe organized methods such as have already been 
initiated to stimulate baseball and other field sports, tennis, golf, canoeing, 
family-parties, picnic groups, etc., etc. A trained supervisor is needed for 
this purpose, with directors at Riverside, Garfield, Brookside, Willard Park, 
etc. 

INDOOR NEIGHBORHOOD CENTERS— (1) Needed neighbor- 
hood recreations and useful occupations can be increased indoors by the use 
of school buildings after school hours and evenings. The Parent-Teachers' 
Association, in co-operation with other representative organizations, is study- 
ing local needs and approved methods so as to present a feasible plan. The 
employment of trained leadership is the first essential. The good uses made 
of the libary buildings has been demonstrated by the Women's Depart- 
ment Club, and should be extended. (2) Private organizations with ade- 
quate buildings can organize more needed activities in their communities. 

SUPERVISION — (1) The employment of permanent, trained direct- 
ors and supervisors. This is essential to develop a year-round recreation sys- 
tem such as exists in other cities and is needed here. Such directors are needed 
to develop the recreative uses of parks, to administer the recreation center or 
play-park and field house with indoor activities, and in order to carry on the 
more extended use of school buildings. 

(2) Training courses with consequent increased efficiency of directors, 
play-leaders and assistants on playgrounds. Similar courses for those wish- 
ing to engage in play and recreation leadership. 

PRIVATE ORGANIZATIONS— In the course of the survey it was 
found that a plan had some time ago been suggested for federating the work 
of private organizations doing neighborhood work. This would admirably 
■meet one of the needs of the situation. At present, organizations 
doing work for children and 3^oung people, and some settlement 
associations, are independently extending their activities. A common plan is 
needed to increase the number of effective neighborhood centers under trained 
leadership and prevent duplication. Plans for common sources of support 
through contributions, or at least saving in managerial expense, can be worked 
out. At the same time the individual identity of organizations and their 

38 



INDIANAPOLIS RECREATION SURVEY 

vested interests can be preserved, if desirable or necessary. Such a common 
organization will be of inestimable help to the public recreation system. It 
can conduct recreation activities on a larger scale, and can co-operate with 
and supplement public playgrounds and recreation centers just as individual 
organizations are doing in a measure at the present time. 

II. FUTURE DEVELOPMENT OF AN ADEQUATE 
RECREATION SYSTEM 

After the next steps suggested have been instituted, the further progress 
in securing adequate facilities for the recreation of young and old in India- 
napolis should be made with the following objects in view: 

(1) Increasing the number of children's playgrounds year by year by 
operating more schoolyards in summer. In many districts in Spring and Fall 
these yards, now open till 4 P. M., should be under play-leaders and open 
for a longer time. 

(2) Additional playfields, a half-mile radius covering the natural district 
served. The Merritt Playground, the ground at West Indianapolis, at 
Brookside Park, and at locations on Fall Creek, are the next natural points 
in the present park system. But to meet needs in their order, new park and 
school properties should be considered in a common policy. The next devel- 
opment should be at the Technical Institute grounds, with fields for High 
School pupils and a community center for all ages. Certain enlarged school 
yards can serve as fields. 

(3) Additional indoor recreation centers planned for districts as needed, 
by the use of school buildings, field houses and club houses. In this case, also, 
a half-mile radius usually covers the natural district served. 

(4) Bathing facilities — A permanent bath-house, outdoor and indoor 
baths, at the Military Park site. In time the temporary summer river baths 
made permanent, by acquiring sites and erecting bath houses. Outdoor pools 
near the field houses of playfields in congested districts. Basements or other 
parts of school buildings fitted with baths, and new buildings planned with 
this possibility in view. 

(5) New Activities — Two influences, the increase in the number of peo- 
ple engaged in recreation leadership as a profession here, and suggestions 
from the park and recreation development in other large cities will suggest 
numbers of new activities. Outdoors, among the children, these are count- 
less. Indoor games and other pursuits likewise have great variety. In play- 
parks and scenic parks, baseball, football, golf and tennis are always the 
"popular" sports; but more of other games like outdoor bowling, cricket, 
field-hockey, and lacrosse come with organization. Winter sports are possi- 
ble in season. Regular music festivals and pageants may become organized 

39 



INDIANAPOLIS RECREATION SURVEY 

parts of the recreation system. Trained leadership and the increasing empha- 
sis on the educational bearing of recreation bring certain industrial activities 
prominently forward. Manual training, domestic science, and other useful 
pursuits as equipment and leadership are provided, should become more com- 
mon at recreation centers. 

(6) Commercial recreations, being the largest factor in furnishing amuse- 
ments, must maintain high standards through co-operation or by control. This 
result can be best obtained in Indianapolis if present laws are enforced and 
well intentioned managers encouraged to conduct amusements of the best 
class. But civic bodies concerned with this matter should keep informed of 
conditions and co-operate to prevent deterioration. If conditions should make 
it necessary, an additional system' of inspection and censorship in connection 
with granting or withholding licenses is possible. A thorough discussion of 
the principles that underlie municipal regulation of commercial recreation is 
contained in the March, 1914, issue of "The Playground." 



40 



APPENDIX 



A. The Recreation Value of Commercial Recreations and Their Regulation. 

B. Tables. 

C. Maps. 

A. The Recreation Value of i Commercial Re- 
creations and their Regulation 

MOTION PICTURES — To estimate the social effect of motion pictures 
is as difficult as to estimate that of the modern newspaper, because of the 
various elements to be considered. The quality of films supplied has im- 
proved and it has become possible for judicious managers to show^ on the 
average better subjects than formerly. In most houses a certain number of 
distinctly educational films appear. The great majority are comic or romantic 
drama, w^ith the "feature films" becoming more numerous. These vary from 
those of the highest excellence to an objectionable form of over-heightened 
melodrama. 

A fair statement of the good that should be recognized and the influences 
that should be avoided in the motion picture show^s is about as follow^s: 
Their great popularity and the large combined attendance means that here 
is a tremendous social force. Its attractive powder is due to the fact that for 
a few^ cents one can suddenly become the absorbed w^itness of stirring scenes. 
The oJieap admission has made the motion picture house in a real sense the 
people's theatre. Family groups frequently attend, especially in the neighbor- 
hood houses. The impression made by an appeal to the eye constitutes an 
educational opportunity w^hen the right subjects are displayed. On the other 
hand, the same powder to impress makes the bad film a source of evil. A 
mediocre form of amusement results from the superficial character of a num- 
ber of films that are classed as "drama." Lov^^ standard of taste may result 
from the exaggerated sentimentality and heightened melodrama of some films. 
By co-operation v^^ith managers w^ho realize these points, or by censorship, 
if that should become necessary, the best standards need to be maintained. 

Working people (and the motion picture is largely an adult amusement) 
evidently find value in the physical rest and new mental occupation after hard 
work. On the other hand, for the young especially, the habit of attendance 

41 



INDIANAPOLIS RECREATION SURVEY 

at any form of passive amusement ought not to take the place of active 
recreation. 

POOL ROOMS — A good indication of conditions under w^hich pool and 
billiards are played is derived from a study of 56 of the dow^n-tov^^n places. 
More than 25 per cent, of these are in small rooms. One-third of the rooms 
are in the basement or in a second story, the remainder being on the first 
floor. In tw70-thirds the ventilation is decidedly poor, and in a larger propor- 
tion the lighting facilities are not good. Careful estimates as to the attitude 
of the managers of pool rooms toward gambling and the admission of minors, 
shows that less than 20 per cent, are strict in this respect, and that the remain- 
der are either indifferent, lax, or consistently loose in their management. 
Giving due credit to a few places that are being well-managed, and where 
every effort is made to run a respectable place, the fact remains that the 
average pool room cannot be entered without encountering bad langauge and 
atmosphere, and incipient gambling. The latter evil seems almost inseparable 
from the great majority of pool rooms. (The large number of games played 
on a table readily lend themselves to wagers, and side bets by the bystanders 
and onlookers are frequent. Places with cigar stands usually have a dice 
box.) In fact, a large number of establishments would prove unprofitable 
without the opportunity for these things. Even where the management is 
strict, gambling can go on without being detected, or can be conducted in 
such a way that it is not natural or easy to restrict it. 

Pool and billiards are games of skill that are in themselves attractive, the 
former especially to young men, and the latter to a smaller number of de- 
votees. They ought to be provided under good conditions. Establishments 
that have as the basis of their trade the pure attraction of these games, and 
nothing else, are not numerous. 

The democracy of the pool room, the fact that it provides a center where 
men can do about as they like and find companionship, is an element in its 
attraction to great numbers. It is for this reason that everything possible 
should be done to provide good attractive meeting places for -men under the 
very best of conditions, with something active that they like to do. Large 
numbers evidently do not get the social companionship they want without 
resorting to the poolroom or the saloon. A considerable proportion seek 
rooms in bad surroundings because they like them. Evidently the social con- 
dition which is at the basis of this problem will not be materially improved 
without a persistent campaign of education affecting the habits of young men. 

PUBLIC DANCES — Visits to a number of public dances show much 
variety in character. In several instances proprietors are managing well-con- 
ducted affairs with every attempt to observe tlie proprieties and prevent the 
attendance of undesirable persons. In others there is laxity, particularly in 
regard to tlie surroundings of tlie dance. The general admission of the public 

42 



INDIANAPOLIS RECREATION SURVEY 

at such dances means a certain inevitable percentage of questionable charact- 
ers. In a few cases this laxity is noticeable, particularly at late hours, in the 
kind of dancing, drinking, and general unconventional conduct. 

In considering the dance as a form of amusement, a sound point of view is 
necessary. It must be recognized that dancing in its broadest sense is popular 
in response to two natural instincts, — the desire for expressing abounding 
spirits in motion and rhythm, and the mutual desire of young men and women 
for companionship and social acquaintance. These may often be met in other 
ways, but the dance is popular because it has this double attraction. On 
account of the danger of evil being encountered by those who seek innocent 
pleasure, it is essential that dancing shall take place under the best possible 
conditions. This can be achieved by regulation, and by constructive meas- 
ures. Neighborhood centers with all kinds of activity are needed. If danc- 
ing is included, this kind, w^ith a natural basis of acquaintanceship, is the best 
sort. Because of the large floating population that inevitably patronize 
"down town" dances, it is also necessary to safeguard their character by regu- 
lation. It is likewise to be noted that municipal dances as operated in other 
cities are another means of meeting this phase of the public amusement 
situation. 

MAINTENANCE OF STANDARDS— Though the law does not pro- 
vide for the inspection of motion picture films in Indianapolis, the situ'ation 
in that respect is much better than in many large cities. The licenses for 
amusement houses refer only to matters pertaining to the buildings, their 
location and arrangements for safety and sanitation. Without any outside 
regulation other than official and public opinion, several of the best motion 
picture houses have set a standard in the character of the films displayed that^ 
has had a good effect on the general standard of all the houses. Most all of 
this business is locally owned and managed. Thus far it has been possible 
for fairly good standards to prevail, through the initiative of the managers 
themselves. The outright objectionable film has been the exception. It 
appears occasion^.Uy. Under present conditions, it seems possible for the leaders 
of enlightened public opinion to gain through co-operation a standard that 
other cities have had to maintain through a system of film inspection. How- 
ever, the business is so large and its influence so important that public opin- 
ion, represented by public authorities and civic organizations, should be in- 
formed as to conditions, and ready with suggestions as to improvement. 
Should conditions change for the worse, a system of film inspection is 
advisable. Such systems are in operation in Cleveland, Detroit and Kansas 
City. 

An ordinance of 1906 requires each dance not held In a private residence to 
be licensed. The character of the public dance in Indianapolis can be and has 
been to an extent controlled through the licensing power in the hands of 

43 



INDIANAPOLIS RECREATION SURVEY 

the Police Department. To have the requisite knowledge on which to base 
the granting or withholding of a license, so as to guard the character of 
dances, most cities have found it necessary to authorize the presence at public 
dances of an officer or some person representing the licensing authority. In 
Indianapolis this is not required. An ordinance of 1913 requires the presence 
of a matron at all public dances, and it is the practice for those managing 
dances to have such a person present. The success of the authorities in carry- 
ing out the intent of this ordinance appears to depend upon the extent to 
which such matrons act in the interest of the public. The effect of this regu- 
lation depends upon the co-operation of those managing the affair. They 
hire the matrons who are naturally responsible to them first. 

Among the regulations that have proved effective elsewhere in meeting some 
of the bad conditions that exist are the following : ( 1 ) Absolute prohibition 
of the sale of liquor at a public dance, or in the building where such a dance 
is held. (2) No granting of return checks, so that saloons in the neighbor- 
hood may not be patronized in intermissions. (In some instances a number 
of intermissions are lengthened to allow drinking). (3) Reasonable hours 
of closing. (4) Regular inspection by police, not only to regulate the dance, 
but- to report conditions on which licenses can be withheld or other penalties 
imposed. 

The activity of police authorities in suppressing gambling has already had 
marked effect on the conditions in poolrooms. In several instances the failure 
of proprietors to renew poolroom licenses has been due to this activity. Evi- 
dently the worst poolrooms cannot conduct business at a profit without gam- 
bling. Rigid enforcement of law must be the chief means of improvement 
in conditions at it puts a premium on men seeking amusement in respectable 
places. ■ ' 



B 


. Tables 






TABLE ] 


.. 


' 


CAPACITY AND ESTD4ATED ATTENDANCE AT 


EXHIBITION AMUSEMENTS 




Type 


Houses 


Capacity 


Weekly Attendance 


Motion Picture Shows in 








Center of Town 


22 


8,316 


166,320 


Neighborhood Motion 








Picture Shows 


48 


18,142 


154,207 


Vaudeville and Burlesque (in 








two motion pictures combined) 


7 


9,400 


75,200 


Legitimate Drama and Opera 


3 


4,956 


24,780 




80* 


40,814 


420,780 


*(Not counting 13 air domes.) 








44 







INDIANAPOLIS RECREATION SURVEY 



TABLE II 

LIST OF THEATRES AND MOVING PICTURE SHOWS WITH 

LOCATION AND TYPE OF HOUSE AS GIVEN BY THE 

CITY CONTROLLER'S DEPARTMENT 



LOCATION 



NAME 



TYPE OF HOUSE 



— A— 

19 S. Addison St. 

— B— 

1660 Bellefontaine St. 
Blaine & Howard 
Blake & Ohio 
Blaine & Howard 
443 N. Blake 

— C— 

2451 Central 
2959 Central 
4005 Cornelius Ave. 
19th & College 
2407 College 
19th & College 

— D— 

Del. btw. Market & Ohio 
N. Delaware 



Hilltop Amusement Co. 
Emerald Theatre 



Cap. City Amusement Co. 
Stratford Theatre 
Comique 



Columbia Theatre 
Hench Opera House 



Airdome 



Moving Picture 
Airdome 
Airdome 
Moving Picture 
Moving Picture 

Moving Picture 
Moving Picture 
Airdome 
Motion Picture 
Motion Picture 
Motion Picture 



Burlesque 



801 S. East 
1129 S. East 

— F— 

505 Fulton St. 

951 Ft. Wayne Ave. 

— G— 
Gale & 25th 

— H— 
Hudson & 16th 



Appollo Theatre 
Fotoplay Amusement Co. 



Motion Picture 
Motion Picture 



Airdome 
Moving Picture 

Moving Picture 



People's Amusement Co. Moving Picture 



443 Indiana Ave. 


Our Theatre 


Moving Picture 


524 Indiana Ave. 


Columbia 


Theatre 


Moving Picture 


784-6 Indiana Ave. 






Moving Picture 


521 Indiana Ave. 






Moving Picture 


118 S. Illinois St. 






Moving Picture 


131 S. Illinois St. 






Moving Picture 


111. btw. Md. & Ga. 


Majestic 




Burlesque 


19 S. Illinois St. 


Vaudette 




Motion Picture 


2175 N. Illinois St. 






Motion Picture 


134-38 N. Illinois St. 






Motion Picture 


119 N. Illinois St. 


Crystal 




Motion Picture 


135 N. Illinois St. 


Lyric 




Motion P. & Vaude. 


Illinois & New York 


Colonial 




Motion P. & Vaude. 



45 



INDIANAPOLIS RECREATION SURVEY 



LOCATION 


NAME 




TYPE OF HOUSE 


— K— 
15-17 Kentucky Ave. 


Family Theatre 




Vaudeville 


— L— 








London & 30% Sts. 






Motion Picture 


~M— 








16-18 W. Market St. 


Royal Theatre 




Motion Picture 


113 W. Market St. 


Starland Theatre 




Motion Picture 


2508-10 W. Michigan St. 






Motion Picture 


2540 W. Michigan St. 


Palace Amusement 


Co. 


Motion Picture 


2208. W. Michigan St. 






Motion Picture 


2627 W. Michigan St. 


West Side Theatre 




Motion Picture 


2129 E. Michigan St. 






Motion Picture 


Mass. Ave. & St. Clair 


Idle Hour Amusement Co. 


Motion Picture 


430-32 Mass. Ave. 


Iroquois Amusement 


Co. 


Motion Picture 


922 Mass. Ave. 






Motion Picture 


858 So. Meridian 


Princess Amusement 


Co. 


Motion Picture 


Meridian & Kansas 






Motion Picture 


1751 So. Meridian St. 






Motion Picture 


1101 So. Meridian St. 


Oriental Theatre 




Motion Picture 


Martindale & 19th Sts. 


Atlas Theatre 




Motion Picture 


Monument Place. 


English Opera House 


Theatre & Opera 


—N— 








New Jersey & Mass. Ave. 


Shubert Murat 




Theatre & Opera 


Northwestern & 25th St. 






Motion Picture 


2628 Northwestern 






Motion Picture 


Noble & Michigan 


Noble Theatre 




Motion Picture 


4020 E. New York 






Airdome 


711 W. New York 






Airdome 


733 N. Noble 
1223 Oliver Ave. 


Liberty Amusement 


Co. 


Airdome 


Savoy Theatre 




Motion Picture 


— P — 

1106 Prospect St. 






Motion Picture 


Penn. htw. Market & Ohio 


B. F. Keith's 




Vaudeville 


— ^R — 

1502 Roosevelt 






Motion Picture 


Roosevelt & 16th 






Airdome 


Raymond &- Shelby 






Airdome 


— s— 








1117 Shelby 






Motion Picture 


1319 N. Senate 






Motion Picture 


Sixteenth & Yandes 






Airdome 


1320 E. 16th 






Motion Picture 


— T— 








2735 E. Twenty-fifth 






Motion Picture 


2116 E. Tenth 


Hamilton Amusement Co. 


Motion Picture 


2127 E. Tenth 






Airdome 


2925 E. Tenth 


Pastime Theatre 




Motion Picture 


Talbot & 22nd 


North Side Amusement Co. 


Motion Picture 



46 



INDIANAPOLIS RECREATION SURVEY 



LOCATION 



NAME 



TYPE OF HOUSE 



— U— 

1075 Udell St. 

— V— 

533 Virginia Ave. 
1044-46 Virginia Ave. 
733 Virginia Ave. 

— V^— 

2104 E. Washington St. 
2206 E. Washington St. 
2442 E. Washington St. 
2700 E. Washington St. 
130 E. Washington St. 
E. Wash, near N. Jersey 
504 E. Washington St 
431 E. Washington St. 
1248 E. Washington St. 
136 W. Washington St. 
W. Washington St. 
3005 W. Washington St. 
430 W. Washington St. 
Wash. & Capitol Ave. 
Wash, near Illinois St. 
1202 N. West St. 



Motion Picture 



Continental Amusement Co. Motion Picture 

Motion Picture 

Virginia Theatre Motion Picture 



Cosmos Theatre 

Tacoma Electric Theatre 

Twilight Theatre 

Bijou 

Gayety 

Scenic Theatre 

Vista Amusement Co. 
Gem Theatre 
Manhattan Theatre 

Best Theatre 
Lyceum Theatre 
Alhambra 
Manilla Theatre 



Motion Picture 
Motion Picture 
Motion Picture 
Airdome 
Motion Picture 
Vaudeville 
Motion Picture 
Motion- Picture 
Motion Picture 
Motion Picture 
Motion Picture 
Motion Picture 
Motion Picture 
Theatre 
Motion Picture 
Motion Picture 



SHOOTING GALLERIES AND SKATING RINKS 

LOCATION 

428 Indiana Ave. . Galleries 

116 S. Illinois St. Galleries 

852 Massachusetts Ave. Galleries 

527 Massachusetts Ave. Galleries 

635^ W. Washington St. Galleries 

Riverside ^ Galleries 

Riverside Rink 



47 



INDIANAPOLIS RECREATION SURVEY 



TABLE III 

JUVENILE DELINQUENCY IN INDIANAPOLIS, APRIL 1, 1912, 

TO MARCH 31, 1913 

Facts furnished by Miss Isabelle Somerville 



-. )>■'»,■>«-•" 



CLASSIFICATION OF OFFENSES 



Offenses Against 
Property 
Petit Larcency ... 160 
Grand Larcency 4 

Trespass 3 

Burglary 4 

Housebreaking . . 3 
Receiving Stolen 

Goods 1 

Arson 2 

Malicious trespass 19 



196 



Offenses Against 
Public Order 
Idling and 

Loitering 26 

Incorrigibility .... 103 
Shooting in city 

limits 2 

Truancy 40 

Carrying Concealed 

Weapons 2 

Jumping on cars ..11 

Drunkeness . .• 1 

Disorderly conduct 8 

Profanity 2 

Running Away. . . 3 

Gaming 9 

Immorality 27 



Offenses Against 
Persons 
Assault and Battery 30 
Drawing Deadly 

Weapons 1 



234 



Total 461 



SUMMARY BY MONTHS 



Boys 

April, 1912 36 

May, 1912 38 

June, 1912 33 

July, 1912 37 

August, 1912 21 

September, 1912 24 



Girls 




Boys 


Girls 


5 


October, 1912 ... 


.. 30 


.7 


14 


November, 1912 .. 


.. 31 


12 


11 


December, 1912 .. 


.. 28 


5 


10 


January, 1913 . . . 


.. 36 


6 


11 


February, 1913 .. 


.. 27 


8 


11 


March, 1913 .... 


.. 15 


5 



189 



62 



167 



43 



Total, 461 



48 



INDIANAPOLIS RECREATION SURVEY 

TABLE IV 

PARK LANDS— AREA AND EQUIPMENT FOR ACTIVE 
RECREATION 

Matron and 
NAME OF PARK ACRES ^?^1' Tennis Golf Children's 

Fields Courts Holes Canoeing Pia- Space 

Riverside (1) 930 8 9 45 X X 

Garfield (1) 128.52 3 4 X 

Brookside (1) 93.05 5 6 X 

Woollen's Garden (1) .... 44 

Ellenberger's Woods (1) ... 31.70 1 2 6 

Military Park (owned by X 

State (2) 17.3 

Willard Park (3) 14.71 ♦ 

Fall Creek Parkway 190.19 

White River Parkway 45.55 

(Geo. Merrit Playground 

36.22) (3) 

Brookside Parkway 34.09 • 

Pleasant Run Parkway .... 52.24 

Burdsal Parkway 11.49 

Spades Place (1) 10.4 3 X 

University Sq. (owned by State) 4 

St. Clair Sq. (owned by State) 3 y 

Greenlawn 8 

Highland Square (2) 3.98 " X 

Morris Square (2) 1.95 X 

Indianola Square (2) 1.62 X 

McCarty Place (2) 1.22 X 

Noble Place 95 

Fletcher Triangle 73 

Irving Circle 53 

(1) Scenic Parks with Active Sports. 

(2) Squares with children's play space. 

(3) Undeveloped fields or play parks. 



49 



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INDIANAPOLIS RECREATION SURVEY 

.TABLE VII 

Average 
School Home 

No. Facilities Conditions in the District 

1 Poor or fair — Congested district. Great need for children's play space. 

2 Poor or fair — Homes of middle class, some poor. Need of play in dis- 

trict. 

3 Fair — Mostly working people in good houses. Congested in parts 

and partly open. One very bad district. 

4 Poor; some fair — Mostly small houses and large families. Street at- 

tracts. Young people loaf there and in stores, and attend 
shows. Parents say they cannot keep children at home. 
*'The school should be the social center, with reading 
room, clean entertainments, and a playground open all the 
time under supervision." 

5 Vcrv poor — Houses mostly small. No available play space except at 

Military Park. 25 per cent of population foreign-born 
(mostly Polish, Hungarian, Servian, etc.) Large families. 
Settlement doing much good. 

6 Very Poor — Houses small; most families large. Boys' Club in district. 

No place for girls to go to have a good time. 

7 Very poor — Much need of children's play and a strong director. Very 

needy district. Poor families. Bathing facilities needed. 

8 Poor — Boys want play. Almost no yard ; no open spaces in district. 

9 Very poor — A social and recreation center would fill a great need. Very 

needy section. Majority of children have both parents at 
work. 

10 Poor — Small houses; large families in east part. Play on railroads and 

streets. Part of district good homes; part a poor section 
with little home life. 

1 1 Poor — Playground supervised at all times would be a great benefit. Dis- 

trict has changed. Houses smaller, families larger. Few 
open spaces. 

12 Very poor — Many homes in immediate vicinity of school offer no op- 

portunities for recreation. Schoolyard the only sizable 
play space. A gymnasium indoors and a well-supervised 
playground outdoors would do much good. Very needy 
district. 

13 Poor — Near to Nos. 7 and 8. About same conditions as in the latter. 

54 



INDIANAPOLIS RECREATION SURVEY 

14 Fair — Homes appear to mean much in leisure of most of the children. 

A district that is filling in. Highland Park and Techni- 
cal Institute grounds are near. 

15 Fair to good — Mostly families in good homes. Some well-to-do. Dis- 

trict growing fast. 

16 Very poor — Lauter Memorial Building can fill a great need. More play 

space needed for school. Very crowded conditions. Many 
families, two and three to a house. 

17 Poor {colored) — Great need for more indoor recreations of the right 

sort. Most of the pupils in congested quarters at home 
(4 or 5 rooms). Need especially of open space for older 
boys. 

18 Fair to good — Good deal of home life and healthy neighborhood life. 

Some exceptions. Park three-quarters mile away. 

19 Poor {colored) — Small houses and large families. Children spend time 

on streets. Homes used little for recreation. Clubs and 
places outdoors for boys and girls needed. 

20 Fair to good — As in other districts, great numbers attend moving pic- 

tures. Many families have music or other home attrac- 
tions. -Children much at home. Many good yards. Most- 
ly good homes. No provisions for older boys outdoors. A 
field much needed. Vacant lots used a little. 

21 Poor — Parents mostly hard-working. Children thrown on own resourc- 

es. Homes count little as recreation centers. There are 
open spaces, but not used. 

22 Poor to fair — Mostly good houses, small. Working people. A chil- 

dren's playground would do good. River bottoms much 
resorted to in summer. 

23 Poor (colored) — Summer ground at Brighton Beach fills need for older 

boys and girls. Most homes in alleys of close-settled 
streets; small, with little home opportunity for recreation. 
75 per cent of .pupils from congested districts. 

24 Very poor {colored) — Average houses of three rooms, and six or more 

in family. Young people on streets or in poolrooms. 
Needs are better play facilities and equipment, a social 
center, etc. 

25 Poor to fair — Need for play space.. 

26 Very poor {colored) — Small houses. More wholesome social life among 

young people needed. Needs are: play facilities and equip- 
ment, extended use of school buildings for neighborhood, 
sanitation, law enforcement^ a worker in special charge of 
these activities. 

55 



INDIANAPOLIS RECREATION SURVEY 

27 Good — Most houses have small yards, but this does not satisfy the 

young boys and girls who love to play ball, tennis, etc. 
Many good homes, recreation habits good considering the 
facilities. Arrangements should be made for tennis court 
and ball ground, as there are still vacant lots. 

28 Poor to fair — Needy district. Yard can be used for small children. 

No field in district. 

29 Fair — Needs space for the play of children. Mostly modest but good 

houses. Partly a poor district near railroad. 

30 Poor to fair — Houses mostly small, families of average size. Indianola 

Park adds much to opportunity for play of little children. 

31 Poor to fair — Closely settled neighborhood of good, mostly small houses. 

Little outdoor play space. Needs children's ground very 
much. No fields for older boys. 

32 Fair to good — School yard is fair-sized. Not many other large open 

spaces — rapidly disappearing. 

33 Fair — Spades' Place and Technical Institute grounds are not far. Good 

homes; fairly open neighborhood; growing fast. 

34 Poor to fair — Mostly working people. Need of neighborhood recrea- 

tions. Plenty of open play space — near to Garfield Park. 
Need of organized play is felt. 

35 Good — Good homes. Fine, large school yard and near to Garfield 

Park. Good type of neighborhood life. 

36 Fair to good — A district of good houses, filling in fast. Large yard 

is needed. 

37 Very poor {colored) — Open country. Pupils of this school mostly from 

dilapidated homes, usually two rooms, six in family. Needs 
"center" for recreation and social life. 

38 Poor — Homes of working people. Community poorly provided with 

good opportunities. 

39 Fair to good — Most houses rather small, families large. Children on 

streets a great deal. No playgrounds — a great need. 
Houses fairly good, sanitary as a rule, and most children 
well clothed. Lecture course in school popular with 
people. 

40 Poor {colored) — Colored families in barns and back alleys. Most in 

two or three-room houses. Children play outside. Church 
organizations and Y. M. C. A. used by some; many 
do not. 

41 Fair — Open district, growing very rapidly. Average homes good; some 

exceptions. Community life needs organization to meet 
growth. 

56 



INDIANAPOLIS RECREATION SURVEY 

42 Poor to fair {colored) — Houses average four rooms, six in family. 

Some yards, but play facilities and equipment are needed 

at the school. 
4v3 Good — Open district; large new ground. School draws mostly from 

well-provided homes. Many vacant lots, and woods near; 

also near to Fairview Park. 

44 Fair — Open district; pupils mostly from well-provided homes. Other 

influences make good recreation for young people a ne- 
cessity. 

45 Good — A good residential district. Families of medium size. Some 

homes much used. Fairly good opportunities for out- 
door sports. Recreation facilities seem adequate for the 
present. 

46 Poor to fair — Small houses of working people. Growing rapidly. Need 

for children's play space becoming more acute. Near to 
some open spaces. 

47 Poor — Poor district. Need of spaces for children's play. Need of 

good types of indoor recreation. 

48 Poor — Need of good types of indoor recreation. 

49 — Fair — ^A district with both poor and good houses. Library and school 
building much used. Need for good indoor recreations. 

50 Fair to good — Houses of average size, used to a reasonable extent for 

spending leisure. District that has some average yards. 
Library uses already providing some good opportunities. 

51 Poor to fair — Closely settled in most parts. Some open territory. The 

organized playground used much in summer. 

52 Poor — Mostly working people from the factories. Much loitering in 

the evening. Great need for best kind of active recre- 
ations and for other good methods of spending leisure. 
Need for outdoor play. 

53 Poor — ^A district much like No. 52 ; more open, but becoming crowded ; 

hemmed in by railroad and asylum grounds. Needs bet- 
ter facilities. 

54 Fair — Houses good, but not used as should be. Most parents in com- 

fortable circumstances. Moving picture shows draw 
largely. Much street play for an open district. School 
yard too small. Brookside Park used considerably. 

55 Very poor — Very needy district. Clubs and children's summer ground 

at Christamore Settlement. Need for more open space 
for sports of 3^outh. Practically all working people. 

57 



INDIANAPOLIS RECREATION SURVEY 

56 Very poor — Small houses of working people, some very poor; many 

people out of work. Conditions not unlike those at No. 
55, but further from facilities and opportunities. Un- 
graded open fields near. Social settlement fills a real 
need. 

57 Good — ^A community of good homes. Can make good use of commun- 

ity school. College grounds and Ellenberger Woods 
available. Schoolyard large and needs to be kept so. 

58 Fair — Mostly working people in small, good homes. Some open space 

in district; growing fast. School and its grounds need 
to be adequate to meet future needs. 

59 No comment on district. Children live in Orphans' 
Home. Plenty of open space next to school building, 
now set out witH trees and ungraded. Great need of 
an organized playground here, recess and after school. 

60 Good — Few districts with as good facilities for home recreation and 

opportunities for play. Plenty of open space, adequate 
yards, neighborly atmosphere. 

61 Fair — Closely settled. Need of organized play for children. Field 

needed. Too far from Garfield Park. 

62 Fair — Open district. 

63 Poor {colored) — Much open space. Needy as far as social conditions 

are concerned. Homes average three rooms. 

64 Very poor {colored) — Houses average three rooms. Open space, but 

much loafing about corners, in saloons, etc. The play- 
ground doing good. Worker and facilities to work with 
indoors needed. 

65 Poor {colored) — Open district. Houses three rooms; very large fam- 

ilies. No recreations organized, but much needed. 



58 



INDIANAPOLIS RECREATION SURVEY 



TABLE VIII 

RECREATION PROVIDED BY PRIVATE ORGANIZATIONS 

(Associations, Settlements, Churches, Philanthropic Clubs) 



Facilities 



Y. M. C. A. 
Colored Y.M.C.A. 
Y.W.C.A. 

3 large buildings, 
assembly halls, 
gymnasia, pools, 
social rooms, etc. 



6 Neighborhood 
clubs and 
settlements 
2 houses, well 
equipped 
+ smaller build- 
ings, partially 
equipped. 
4 have gymnasia 



8 Churches 
with weekly 
recreations 
Social uses 
of vestry 
or parish 
houses. 
3 rooms 
fitted as 
gymnasia 



Leadership 



Attendance 
weekly in 
winter 

Total attendance 



23 paid workers, 
large number 
volunteers 



20.075 



■T paid 
11 -J I leaders; 

14 paid workers ^ churches 

a few volunteers ^^^^^^ ^^ 

volunteers 



5,196 



1,074 



26.345 



Only such churches are listed as have more than one club or recreation 
activity at least weekly. Of course, most churches have monthly socials 
and there is a large amount of valuable social activity in homes and neigh- 
borhoods which is the outgrowth of the social life and acquaintance eman- 
ating from church attendance. 



59 



INDIANAPOLIS R E C R E AT ION SURVEY 

TABLE IX 

Showing Use of Libraries in 1913 
Circulation: 

Total circulation of books for home use (year ending 

Sept., 1913) 544,076 

Circulation of books for home use at 21 delivery stations: 

At Branch libraries 233,002 

At deposit stations and schools 57,004 

At other delivery stations 18,389 298,495 

More than 50 per cent, of the 33,119 cards in force are for children. 
Location of Branches: 

(Main Library, N. Meridian and Ohio Streets.) 
(Branches are given in the order of their circulation for 1913.) 
*Branch 6 (Commerce & Nowland) near Schools 33, 26 and 55. 
♦Branch 5 (1926 W. Morris) near Schools 49, 46 and 47. 
♦Branch 4 (1034 S. Alabama) near M. T. H. S. and Schools 6, 25, 22 

and 13, 
♦Branch 3 (2822 E. Washington) near School 3. 
Illinois Branch (3355-37 N. Illinois) near School 60. 
Branch 1 (3101 Clifton) near School 41 and 42 and parochial school. 
Prospect Branch (1913 Prospect) near Schools 39, 20 and 19. 
♦Branch 2 (170 N. Mount) near School 50. 
Haughville branch (519 Germania Ave.) near Schools 52 and 53 and 

parochial school. 
Bona Thompson (University and Downey Ave.) near School 57 and Butler 

College. 
McCarty Street. Branch (415 W. McCarty) near School 12 and parochial 

school. 
Brightwood Branch (2434 Station) near School 51 and parochial school. 
(♦These five are Carnegie buildings with separate auditoriums.) 
Extended Use of Library Buildings: 

Lectures, 42; Story-hours, 33; Club-meetings, 218; Social gatherings, en- 
tertainments, rehearsals, etc., 47 ; School uses for gymnastics, choruses, etc., 
98. Total occasions, 465. 



60 



^^ r^mm^^^^^^^^^^M 



r~ 



6~: 



ia ^ 



m 



tf RiW«l.> i t/ i»i>i . < h > 



li 



HIS Map represents the location of the youthful population (5 
the school census districts. 



21 years), based on 



Areas showing an avr 



rage of 301 to 500 in 40 acres 
•■ 251 to 300 " " 
201 to 250 " 
151 to 200 " 
101 to ISO " 
51 to 100 " 
to 50 " 



Certain parts of large outlying 
districts marked VI and VII have 
portions in them where the con- 
gestion is much greater than indi- 
cated. As far as the play of small 
children is concerned these belong 
to more congested types. . In 
other respects they are better sit- 
uated because of open districts 
near at hand 

Parks and cemeteries are not 
included in the reckoning of areas. 
Streets and alleys are included. 




